Wicked Game
by DaggersBloodPain
Summary: Slash HPss When a darker and very Slytherin Harry Potter has his life at Hogwarts clash with his abusive past a certain muggle is given a taste of just why his parents always feared the boy with killing curse green eyes. Will there be death or redemption?
1. A Darker Potter

Summary: Slash HP/ss: When a darker and very Slytherin Harry Potter has his life at Hogwarts clash with his abusive past, a certain muggle is given a taste of just why his parents always feared the boy with killing curse green eyes. Will there be death or redemption?

Rating and Warnings: M for slash relations, discussions of child abuse, and just plan harsh themes not meant for younger readers.

A/N This has now been beta'd

**Wicked Game  
Chapter One: A Darker Potter**

Severus Snape looked up from the paper work on his desk when he heard the expected knock echo off into the dungeon room from the heavy door. "It is unlocked," he called out to the student he knew was responsible for the knocking.

The door swung silently open on its well oiled hinges revealing the tall form of a sixth year Slytherin. There appeared to be nothing amiss with the boy to cause him to have a meeting with his head of house but Severus knew better. "Ok Harry we're alone drop the glamours." He said quietly warding the room against all known magical and muggle surveillance.

With a small sigh Harry Potter did as his head of house asked. The glamours dropped to reveal many bruises in various degrees of healing and severity. Ever since Harry's first year and his surprising sorting Harry had been coming down here on September first to get his wounds taken care of before the other students and teachers could find out.

Severus thought back on that first meeting while carefully spreading healing salves over the cuts and bruises while Harry dutifully swallowed pain and regenerative potions.

He had been extremely surprised to find the son of his school day rival in his house. The boy was supposed to be some golden Gryffindor and yet he had been placed with the snakes.

He had been even more surprised later on that evening when he heard a tentative knock on his office door. Upon opening it he found the small child nearly in tears thanks to some heinous wounds left on him. When Severus wanted to go to the headmaster with the problem Harry begged him not to. Severus saw the desperation in the child's eyes and despite his better judgment he said nothing about it to anyone, on one condition. Harry had to come to him for healing at the beginning of every school year and he was to tell the truth about how he acquired the injuries.

Harry had kept his word and so had Severus. The boy had grown up in those years to surpass everyone's wildest hopes. Severus had been the only teacher to be honored with Harry's complete trust, and the potions master quickly became the boy's closest confidant and later friend. In all those years their relationship had never been even vaguely paternal. It was a friend and mentor type of relationship, well up until the last year.

The boy had grown up in Darkness the boy's magic now reflected that, Harry was still firmly against Voldemort but there was no denying from anyone who knew the boy well enough (both of them being in the room at the time) that Harry Potter was a dark wizard. He had a distinct dislike and open distrust in the headmaster after his fifth year and the painful Occlumency lessons Dumbledore had orders upon discovering Harry's connection to the newly arisen Lord.

Severus had been his life line that year, and if he hadn't had the extreme trust he had in the professor he would have been lead into a trap of Voldemort's devising possibly getting innocent people killed. Severus knew the problem was not Harry's ability to learn the art of clearing his mind that was the problem, Harry was a natural born occlumens and that was the only reason no one had discovered his abuse yet. The problem was Voldemort was already inside his head there was no way to keep him out. Dumbledore refuse to see reason and continued his mental rapes of the boy.

Harry had been using all of his skill to hide his abuse so his other barriers were lower then normal. Dumbledore was anything but gentle as he ripped through the layers of Harry's mind time and again. The man called it for the greater good and Harry wondered just what good having a mentally broken savior would do.

It was that year and the intense emotions surrounding it that altered Harry and Severus's relationship from one of a mentor to something more.

They hadn't done much to act on their new found feelings beyond lingering touches and quick kisses. Harry was too young yet to go any deeper into it then. He knew the fires of their feelings wouldn't be held at bay for much longer and neither of them had a problem with it. Things would work out the way they were supposed to, they had to keep that firmly in their minds at all times.

So it didn't come as any surprise when his student gave him a quick kiss when he was working the bruise salve into a particurly dark one on his high check bones.

When that was done Severus stepped back and observed his work. The salves and potions were already doing their jobs the markings on the boy's body disappearing leaving just Harry sitting there.

Harry had grown over the summer Severus was sure he now matched his height. The boy was decently muscled but had lost some definition from being trapped in at the Dursley's for the summer. His face had matured into a mixture of James and Lily no longer the carbon copy he had been that first year.

Harry had Severus to thank for his height and build, Severus had started the boy in his first year on a regimen of growth and nutrient potions that kept the abuse and neglect he suffered from in his younger days from physically affecting him in any permanent way.

Finally Severus spoke to Harry. "I don't know why you insist on going back there every year. You know you could have been removed from them immediately but you choose to keep going back, I don't think I will ever understand."

"To be honest I am not completely sure either, I just have a feeling that was where I needed to be. Plus if I hadn't gone their in the first place I probably would have turned out to be the golden Gryffindor everyone thought I would be, you would hate me for being my father's son, and oh yeah I would be weaker then a newly hatched chick. All in all I can take a few bruises." Harry answered back being brutally honest the way he had always been with Severus.

Because to give honesty you must receive it and this situation was no different. "It is more then a few bruises and you know it, it took you years before you could even let just your house mates touch you. You still jump at loud noises if you aren't ready for them, and you have difficulty making friends because for the longest time you weren't able to connect with people your own age. It took Draco. Blaise, and Theo until your third year for you to make friends with them. Those are scars from the abuse as well they are just the ones you can't see only feel." Severus said with the same brutal honesty which Harry wanted. He hated when people treated him like glass when the topic of his parents or other sensitive subjects came up.

"You know it wasn't just my past that made me reluctant to interact with people. How do you think the wizarding world would react to finding out their savior is a Dark wizard? I know no one in Slytherin would say a word but the more people that know the bigger the risk of being found out." Harry said evenly.

"I know I just wanted to remind you that what you have been through is more then just a few bruises. I don't ever want you to get the idea that anything they do is right no matter what you see you got out of it." Severus said seriously.

Harry didn't reply he just gave Severus a more forceful kiss then the last one. He knew Severus was right but that didn't mean he was going to admit it. His lack of a verbal response was all it took for Severus to know his point had been received.  
When Harry finally released Severus from his hold he spoke again. "You need to go get some sleep, I know you haven't been sleeping well Voldemort is stepping up his raids." Harry said and as he turned to leave he threw back over his shoulder, "You aren't alone." If anyone but those two heard those words they would think Harry was referring to the lack of sleep but these two knew it meant more then that. It was a very slight reference to the source of Severus's knowledge on the subject of abuse.


	2. Dumbledore's Insanity

**Chapter Two: Dumbledore's Insanity**

Harry made his way back to the Slytherin dorms after his meeting with Severus thinking over the exchange. The two of them had a complicated relationship and most of their communication was done with out words. Harry knew that for most of the evening Severus's mind had been buried in the past. He wasn't so sure that was a good thing the past was one thing he resolutely refused to think about here at Hogwarts.

When he was safe within Hogwarts halls he was free of them. None of the pain and humiliation that normally plagued him was here. Within these walls he was safe. Even though he had been sorted into the house with the most people against it he was safer here then he ever could be at the Dursleys.

As much as he hated to admit it Severus had been right. At the Dursleys it was more then just bruises. He could handle that. It was the fact that Petunia and Vernon didn't hate him so much as feared him. If they had just hated him they wouldn't have wanted to soil their clean hands with his ungrateful self. Unfortunately for him they held fear closer to them, and what they feared they sought to eliminate the poor soul that caused that fear. The physical beating he received daily was nothing compared to the mental trauma he was put through day in and day out.

They had beaten him and they had come way too close for comfort to breaking him. He knew they would have succeeded in their quest if it weren't for his mentor, no lover, no friend, no ahh he really needed to work out exactly what Severus was to him now. It was confusing him the way they had begun acting he knew what he felt and what he wanted but Severus seemed to hold back, he had a feeling it was to do with his age and he was pretty sure he was correct.

Think about Hogwarts yes that was what he needed. He couldn't keep dwelling on the Dursleys he would only get worked into a homicidal rage that the only thing that stopped Harry killing his relatives were the under age magic restrictions. He knew some perfectly legal curses that could kill just as effectively as the unforgivables, but since they could be blocked the ministry was powerless to do anything but classify them as dark arts and hope no one found out how useful they could be against a muggle incapable of putting up a shield.

His first year had been hectic no one had expected him to get sorted into the serpent house. He was watched closer then a hawk but somehow he still ended up having to save the school from a Voldemort possessed Quirrel. Honestly if the headmaster could tell you exactly when the last time Harry had sneezed with complete accuracy how could he not know the raving lunatic had Voldemort sticking out the back of his head? That year was also spent trying to repair his battered ability to trust. After that first night he had latched onto Severus on more then one level. He had been the first adult to ever care about Harry and not the Boy Who Lived or the Freak.

Second year he really wondered just where Dumbledore found the Defense professors. Lockhart was so much of an idiot the man managed to Obliviate himself. Although the one good thing about that year was he got his very first pet in the form of a huge sixty foot basilisk that was now under his control. He kept his gift of parseltongue a closely guarded secret until that idiot, Lockhart in this case, decided a snake would be a good addition into the middle of a duel although Harry wondered how the Sonorous charm could possibly be mispronounced as Serpensortia on accident. This was the year he got to know Draco better as the boy had foiled one of his father's plots to reincarnate Voldemort by destroying a peace of the Dark Lords soul with the help of Harry's new pet.

Third year was a year of learning. They had a decent Defense teacher for once. Harry also learned it didn't hurt to depend on a friend for a little support he cautiously formed a very tenuous friendship with Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini, and Theodore Nott. All three of them were high ranking purebloods powerful in their own right and just down right good people. The four of them quickly rose in the house hierarchy until they were so close to the top that they would only have to wait until the Slytherin seventh years graduated before they would take their place as the highest ranking Slytherins.

That was also the year he confessed to Severus his fascination with the dark arts and his fear of becoming evil. This is where Severus and Harry's love of brutal honesty came into play. He sat Harry down and told him everything, the marks, the death eaters, his spying, Voldemort, the first part of a prophecy every inner circle death eater knew, and he explained the difference between a Dark wizard and an evil wizard. The simple answer there were no Good or Evil spells what the ministry classified as light and dark was utter hogwash, the only thing good or evil about magic came from the castor not the magic. Harry would only be evil if he chose to be, otherwise he could learn and practice any spell he wanted. That was how Harry Potter knew officially he was a Dark wizard.

Then the tri-wizard tournament came to Hogwarts. He made a few calculated alliances that year. With every one doting on the champions he was able to slide behind normal house prejudice and feel out which students were worth paying a bit closer attention to. The one he wanted to get close to the most was actually a Gryffindor Neville Longbottom. The other boy was so powerful Harry could taste it when the other boy was close by and yet Neville did horrible in class. Harry knew there had to be something holding back Neville's magic but he didn't know what it could be.

When the Hogwarts champion fell Harry couldn't help but wonder if he would have been with Cedric if he had been placed in Gryffindor. He knew he had upset a lot of carefully laid plans with his current house. Did those plans include this tournament? He had a gut instinct they had.

In fifth year those horrendous lessons with Dumbledore began. Having your mind be repeatedly violated by that man was enough to make him scream. He knew he held enough power to block Dumbledore but he couldn't use it when up against the old man. If Dumbledore even suspected how powerful he truly was then Harry would be dead before the day was through. He was only useful if he was strong enough to fight but weak enough to be controlled.

That was the year he came out to Hogwarts. He was sick and tired of all the characters he had been forced to play since he had gained the lightening bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He shed one of those characters on the day he no longer had to pretend to be interested in females. Everyone either hated him or feared him too much to even think about approaching him, so he was left to form an ever growing attachment to Severus. He knew everything about the older wizard both the good and the bad aspects yet he found he couldn't care less about it. When the two of them were alone together they were just Severus and Harry no acts and lowered masks.

Now he entered the Slytherin common room to see the worried faces of his three closest friends. They knew that Harry had a standing appointment with their head of house for the night they returned. Harry had yet to tell them why he had to see the potions master so early in the term every year. They knew their friend well enough to know that Harry would tell them about it on his own time if it was important for them to know. They were Slytherins themselves they understood the need to keep some secrets, well, secret.

Harry acknowledged them but soon turned to head towards his dorm room. The healing potions and salves did wonders but they drew on a persons physical and magical strength to work properly, he was tired out from them coupled with his usual poor sleeping habits. He hadn't slept well ever at the Dursleys and it was even worse since the Dark Lord had returned at the end of his fourth year at Hogwarts. He just hoped he would be able to get a few decent hours of sleep.

Crabbe and Goyle were already snoring heavily when he entered the sixth year dorms. He quickly slipped into a simple pair of sleeping pants made from lightweight cotton he didn't even bother with a shirt. Slipping into cool silk sheets he was soon dead to the world. He didn't even notice the other boys enter and get ready for bed which was highly unusual for any Slytherin student beyond second year.

Harry no longer dreamed, years of using Dreamless Sleep potion had left him with some side effects. The first was that the potion didn't work on him anymore he was completely immune to its effects. The second was that when he did get to sleep he didn't dream. The most important side effect was that Voldemort couldn't send fake visions to him any longer. The only time he saw anything in his sleep it really happened or was going to happen.

With his sleep unplagued by visions from the Dark Lord he assumed the other was not up to anything major on this night. He would be wrong in this case. Voldemort was up to something but Harry's exhaustion was more powerful then Voldemort's anger. Harry never knew his connection to the Dark Lord was a two way link. Every summer spent at the Dursleys since his resurrection, Voldemort had seen visions of Harry's treatment. Voldemort hated Harry with a passion for besting him all those years ago but he would be damned to Hades to see a muggle lay a hand on a magical child.

As Harry slept on unaware at Hogwarts, the dark mark was being fired into the sky above a simple muggle street lined with identical houses. Aurors and order members were showing up in droves to ward off the Muggle authorities. It wasn't long before the mess reached the ears of one manipulating headmaster. To him this whole war was a game of chess, a wicked game that would destroy many lives. The people on his side were pawns to be controlled and sacrifice as needed. Severus was his Knight, and the boy was the Queen, the most devastating piece of the whole game. To be directed with care and sacrificed for the greater good of the King which was himself of course. The most important piece on the board, the headmaster overlooked the fact the King was the weakest piece on the board and that was why it had to be protected by the sacrifice of others.

Dumbledore quickly came up with a plan that would hopefully put a little more Gryffindor in his hopelessly Slytherin Boy-Who-Lived. The boy had to be moldable or he would be a danger to the light and shouldn't be allowed the opportunity to give all that power to the dark side in the war. He could feel the darkness radiating off the boy but he had no proof of the boy's allegiance so couldn't press charges and get the boy thrown in Azkaban where he would be kept out of trouble until the light needed him to destroy Voldemort then dumped back in his cell. If the boy became too troublesome he would just be killed in some stunt and Dumbledore would pull out his Rook, the second boy the prophecy could have spoken of Neville Longbottom.

Severus came bursting into the headmaster's office not long after he had finished forming his plan. The man was looking haggard and his death eater robes were in tatters. The skull mask clutched in his white knuckled hands was covered in soot and other substances you probably didn't want to identify.

"Albus, the attack tonight of which I am sure you already know about. It was on Privet Drive Harry Potter's relatives are dead. Apparently his uncle's sister had come to stay with them to see Dudley off to school. The boy is fine he had already been on his way to school. He hasn't been informed of his parents and aunts murders yet. We didn't know who would be best to tell him." Severus informed as he stood to the side of Dumbledore's desk. His clothing was filthy he didn't want to soil the furniture in the room and make the house elves work harder then they should have to because he was stupid as a youngster and couldn't get away from his choice now.

"I will take care of the boy, go and change. You need to get Harry and bring him here he doesn't need to see you like that." Dumbledore said dismissively.

Severus left without a word because he knew there was no way he would be able to speak to the headmaster without anger in his words. For starters the tone he had used to dismiss him had been full of disgust a far cry from his usual grandfatherly voice; he wasn't trying to protect Harry by having Severus change he was trying to make him ashamed of what he had lowered himself to.

The second fuel to his fiery anger was the small glimpses of Dumbledore's plan he had been able to scavenge from the Headmaster's mind. Dumbledore made the common mistake of never improving his shields believing he was stronger then anyone else. He wasn't willing to acknowledge the fact someone else could improve. The things he had gleaned from the headmaster told him to be wary the old man had a plan for his Harry. The boy would have to tread even more carefully. Severus only hoped this war would be over quick enough that the boy could heal without leaving him a recluse for the rest of his life.

Just to spite the headmaster, yes he knew it was childish but he didn't really care at that point in time, he didn't change before entering Harry's dorm. He hated to wake the young man when he appeared to be sleeping deeply he knew of the boys troubles but didn't have much of a choice. Moving closer to the bed he noticed that during the night Harry had kicked off his blankets and was sleeping on his stomach exposing his smooth back to the air.

He gently shook Harry awake, and the younger wizard jumped into the air at the feel of hands on him. When he realized it was Severus he relaxed a bit, but he didn't miss the death eater attire the older one was wearing. "What happened this time? I didn't see anything tonight." Harry asked all traces of sleep absent from his voice. He wasn't flipping out over Severus's garb simply because he had seen him in it before. Although it was usually before the raid and not when he looked so bedraggled.

"I'm sure the Headmaster wants to tell you himself but I think you need to be prepared. Otherwise he won't get the reaction he is expecting and it will make him suspicious. The raid tonight was planned to target a specific family. No others were hurt as it was only the inner circle and the Dark Lord that went tonight. Harry he targeted the Dursleys, you never have to go back their again they are dead." Severus said simply.

"The headmaster expects me to be upset doesn't he?" Harry asked. "I probably would be upset if they had shown me any kindness or if I hadn't had you to show me how adults are supposed to act towards children. Now I don't, I'm not happy they are dead because I hate killing and death, but I'm not sad either. So what is the old coot planning? I know with an opportunity like this he wouldn't pass up the chance to have me further under his control." Harry said astutely as he began to change. Severus's presence obviously didn't bother him he just wanted information. He knew exactly what his actions were doing to the other man but didn't care in the favor of the much needed answers.

In an astonishing display of self control Severus answered Harry's question with no discernable reaction to the young man's exposed skin other then a slight hitch of breath. "I don't know exactly what the plan is, but it has to do with your cousin. He was the only survivor because he was already at school. The headmaster wants to make you more like a Gryffindor and I don't know how he intends to do that involving that over grown whale (Severus saw the pictures of Dudley hanging on the wall of Privet Drive)." He explained.

"Alright we can only hope he plans to have Dudley killed as well so I have no family and comes to him for support." Harry said with a small laugh at the absurd thought of him going to the headmaster for anything. "You need to go get cleaned up, I know that can't be comfortable, I'll meet you in the headmasters office." Harry said as he stole a kiss then moved stealthily out of the dorm followed quickly by Severus.

Neither of the two wizards noticed a pair of icy grey eyes widen at what he had just seen. He had woken up to voices in the dorm just in time to see his friend kiss his godfather. He wondered what was happening there but couldn't question the other boy about it until he came back to the dorm. He heard the comment about meeting with the headmaster so he knew it would likely be dawn or later before Harry came back.

With that thought he relaxed back into his pillows thinking over what he saw and the implications of it. He wondered just how aware his friend was of the dangerous game he was playing hiding something like that from the headmaster. The rules didn't say anything against student teacher relationships but Dumbledore wouldn't want his warrior to be with a known Death Eater.

Everyone knew Harry was Dumbledore's most powerful weapon what was commonly unknown was the boy's distain for the old man. The headmaster was just lucky Harry's hatred of the Dark Lord was greater then his apathy towards the light. He had a feeling he knew the kind of magic Harry was experimenting with but knew his friend was strong enough to withstand the lure of the Dark Arts. As long as his friend was safe he didn't care what magic the other boy learned, but Dumbledore would kill Harry if he ever got proof Harry had even come close to casting Dark Arts.

Severus met back up with Harry in the hallway in front of Dumbledore's office. Harry had been leaning casually against the Gargoyle. Of course very few people knew this was because the Gargoyle set off an alarm whenever somebody tried to get in or touched it in any way. So with him leaning against it the alarm would create a constant racket in Dumbledore's ears hopefully giving him a headache.

When they finally reached the Headmaster's desk he was already back from where ever he had gone to talk to Dudley. The man was sitting behind his desk looking downcast and his eyes were sans twinkle. He would have managed the convincing act of the grieving man, if the two who had just entered the office hadn't known better.

"Harry my boy have a seat I'm afraid I have some rather bad news for you." Dumbledore said gesturing towards the chairs in front of his desk. Harry decided to play along for now.

"What happened sir? Was it Voldemort?" Harry asked knowing he wasn't supposed to know anything about the Death Eater raids. If Dumbledore knew he was still getting visions it would be back to the mental rapping.

"Yes, Harry I'm sorry but all except for one member of the Dursley family had been killed by Voldemort." Dumbledore said.

It was time for the Slytherin to come out in Harry. He hung his head and made his emerald eyes soften as if tears were threatening. He knew better then to over do his act. Any further then that and it wouldn't be believable to Dumbledore who expected some resistance from the stubborn wizard.

"Which one is still alive? Marge?" Harry asked his voice wavering. He wasn't supposed to know his aunt had come to visit after he had borded the Hogwarts express.

"No your aunt was visiting your relatives at the time. The survivor is your cousin Dudley." Dumbledore said.

"I'm sorry about this but the boy has no place else to go. He needs the support of family, so I have added an extra bed to the Slytherin dorms. I know you would rather deal with your grief on your own but you are truly the only family left to both of you." Dumbledore continued.

"Wait you can't bring a muggle to Hogwarts, are you Insane Albus? The boy wouldn't be alive more then two seconds if you left him in Slytherin." Severus protested first.

"I have placed wards on the boy. He can not be harmed by magic, and I know your Slytherins don't do anything the muggle way. The boy will be safe and he will have Harry to help him if he needs it. Severus don't argue with me I know what is best for my students the boy will attend this school for this year and possibly the next. He will attend all of Harry's classes and be tutored in Muggle subjects while Harry learns magic." Dumbledore said with a hard edge to his voice.

Dumbledore didn't know that the student Dudley had the most to fear from was his own cousin. Not to mention the wards would only work against magic with lower power then the warder, and Harry was quite possibly stronger then him. If he wanted to sacrifice the muggle then so be it.

"Where is the boy then?" Severus asked exasperatedly.

"Right here," Dudley said from his place in the back of the office. He had just come through a door Severus and Harry didn't even knew existed explaining why the muggle hadn't been noticed before.

Severus felt Harry's magic begin to surge as he was so close. Touching Harry's mind with his own he calmed Harry down quickly before Dumbledore understood what was happening.

"Hello Cousin," Dudley said in his nasally voice. Even with that hideous voice everyone could hear the malicious undertone in the voice.

"Harry, Severus please take Mr. Dursley down to his new dorm." Dumbledore said finalizing all discussion.

The three left the office two of them fuming and one confident in his superiority after all his parents always said Harry was a Freak and everyone knew normal people were better then freaks. Dudley didn't know he was in for a very rude awakening once they were out of spying range.


	3. The Power He Holds

**  
Chapter Three: The Power He Holds**

The silence between the three wizards lasted until they reached the relative safety of the Slytherin common room. Not even bothering to check if they were alone Harry rounded on his cousin eyes blazing.

Dudley sensed the wizard's rage and did the only thing he could think of to do with his puny little brain. He tried to punch Harry squarely in the jaw, only to be thwarted. For the first time in either boy's memory Harry had defended himself.

He had caught his cousin's wrist as it speed towards his face. Now, Dudley may have been fat but he had boxing lessons in the muggle world he knew how to punch hard and fast. The only reason Harry had managed to stop the punch with a single hand was the fact his whole arm and hand were glowing green his magic was strengthening his arm enough to achieve the needed outcome.

"You can't do that stuff to me! That old freak up there told me magic couldn't be used against me!" He said so smugly what little control Harry had been keeping on his anger was now completely gone.

Dudley found himself slammed against the hard stone wall of the common room by his magically enhanced cousin. He was now so far beyond his normal realm of thinking he reverted to pre-human, almost animalistic, responses to the situation. He howled in rage and struggled to get free throwing kicks and punches until he tired himself out, with his girth it didn't take long at all.

Harry chose that point in time to speak his first words to his cousin in a setting that he didn't have to worry about his heavily obese uncle beating the pulp out of him. "You really are pathetic aren't you? When are you going to wake up Dudley? Mummy and daddy aren't here to save you anymore. Who do you think killed them Dudley? Those freaks as they dearly loved to call them killed them with just a stick of wood and a few garbled words," at this point in time Harry drew his wand for affect, "This kind of stick as a matter of fact." Here Harry placed the wand at Dudley's throat pressing deeply into the overly fleshy area just to the side of the trachea.

Here he leaned closer to his cousin and practically hissed, he was a parselmouth he couldn't tell if he was actually hissing or not, the next few words directly into his ear. "I know those words Dudley. I have cast them myself, never on a human just yet, but do not make the mistake of underestimating me or we will find out just how easily I can do it. Never forget cousin you are on my playground now, I call the shots, and I am the one that will make your life hell."

"But that old freak said…" Dudley's sentence was broken off by Harry's wand pressing deeper into his neck causing the beginnings of panic.

"When are you going to figure out I do not follow that manipulative bastard anymore? He lost the right to tell me what to do about anything the night he placed me with relatives who hated and feared me. I can and have done things that would make the headmaster speechless. What makes you think I would blink an eye at killing you, one of the people who made my life hell growing up? Hmm, I always knew you were stupid but I never expected this level of idiocy." Harry spit out icily. His fiery temper had been curbed by the Slytherin's careful assistance into something resembling a glacier. Very slow to move but once it formed it destroyed anything in its path.

"You're a freak and everyone knows normal people are better then freaks. I never have to listen to you, in fact you have to listen to me." Dudley demanded sounding a bit like a five year old but Harry wasn't about to call him on it after all it would just be an insult to the five year olds.

"Oh, but Dudley you're forgetting one thing, you are in a school surrounded by those you call freaks. If anything you are the freak here. Plus one word from me and I can have you hauled off to prison. Even here we have laws against abuse. It's too bad Vernon was killed, I would have loved to see him screaming in Azkaban. I hate to see death, but I do enjoy a good bit of torture." Harry said being deadly serious that was just another oddity of his. He was being honest he didn't like to see death but he wasn't above torture.

"You're Evil," Dudley yelled at him, yet another of Vernon's nicknames for him.

"No, wrong again cousin, I am not evil only Dark. If you want true evil look in the mirror, or wait around for Voldemort to show up. I am not a nice person Dudley, your precious family did that to me. I will not bat an eyelash at killing you. Unlike you and Vernon I will wait until you screw up. Mess up just one time and I will practice my magic on you and most of it could send me to Azkaban." It was funny how much Harry was telling his cousin that he had never shared with anyone save Severus.

"But those ward thingies that freak put on me, they are to protect me!" Dudley was incredibly stupid now wasn't he?

"They have no power over me! My magic is stronger then that old man, and he won't know about it until I am ready for him to know. This entire common room has secrecy spells placed around it. As I understand it an unfortunate incident involving a few Gryffindors and some Polyjuice potion made the change necessary." Harry explained with a smirk. So that explained why he was saying so much.

"Harry you have classes tomorrow, time to stop playing with your toy and try to go back to sleep." Severus informed him.

"Aww, but I was just starting to have fun." Harry answered back.

"You can have your fun later, but if you fall asleep in my class tomorrow I will skin you alive." Severus said with no change in tone or emphasis.

"No you won't, I happen to know you prefer your lovers with skin." Harry shot back.

"And how would you know that?" Severus said with slight amusement.

"I have my ways." Harry replied with a wink.

Apparently this light hearted banter was too much for Dudley. "You're, you're, you're, a fagot! I always knew you were a freak this is just the proof dad and I needed. That can't be normal." Dudley nearly shrieked as high as his now deceased mother.

"Petrifius Totalus!" Harry shouted and when the spell hit Dudley the muggle fell to the stone floor very painfully by the look of things.

" Dudley for starters the correct term is homosexual or gay, and yes I am and proud of it. Second I don't see where you have room to talk, I doubt any female has looked at you let alone touch you. I had to come out to my school to get the girls away from me.

Here Dudley interjected again. "I do so have girlfriends. I have more then you do!" He said in his arrogant voice he must have learned from Vernon because Dudley couldn't have learned that on his own.

"Who did you threaten to beat up to achieve that? Their ten year old little brothers! I have only been in one relationship and will always be in one relationship. I found the person I love and I'm not letting go. You couldn't spell the word love let alone know the feeling." Harry said in a voice filled with scorn. He really couldn't believe how this pathetic lump of flesh shared blood with himself. Faced with his cousin he could almost see why Voldemort was hell bent on killing all muggles.

"We have a truly evil wizard here named Lord Voldemort, he was the same man that killed my parents. Do you want to know what his goal in life is? To kill everyone without magic. You call me a freak and you hate my world, but if we weren't here every non magical person would be dead!" Harry drove his point home to his cousin. "Now I am going to listen to my lover and go to bed, I am going to release the spell on you so you can do the same. Remember what I said about screwing up." Harry warned.

He did release his cousin and start to lead him to the dorms, but not before giving Severus a deep searing kiss. Heading to the dorm with his cousin at wand point he wondered how he was going to make it through classes without hexing Dudley. He really didn't want that manipulative bastard of a Headmaster to know the wards didn't protect Dudley from him, it might make him pull his head out of his ass and do something about it. Harry didn't want to take that chance, too much of a hassle. He was in school and if he wanted to keep his title of the top student in the school he needed to concentrate on more then idiotic wizards.


	4. The Price of a Secret

**  
Chapter Four:The Price of a Secret**

The next morning before Harry had to go through the trouble of introducing his fat lard of a cousin to the rest of the house, Dudley had a few words to say. "I just want you to know if you or anyone under your command harms me, I will tell everyone of dad's tender loving care." With that single sentence Dudley proved that while common sense might not be his strong point he wasn't stupid.

Harry just clenched his teeth and nodded. Trust Dudley to come up with the one piece of blackmail he wanted no one to find out about. Hogwarts was his safe haven and he would be damned if he gave that up to cast a Light hex on Dudley. Not too mention he couldn't cast a memory modifying charm on him. Dumbledore would be able to sense that kind of major tampering in a heart beat. He would just have to take whatever his cousin dished out.

Their friendly little discussion was broken up by Draco waking up.  
"Harry who is this?" Draco asked disdainfully.

"This is my cousin Dudley, just lay off him alright." Harry asked the blond.

"Why I thought you hated the bas..." Draco started only to be cut off.

"Thats enough Draco just do what I asked please." Harry said commandingly.

"Thats right Potter keep your little freaks in line." Dudley said in what was probably meant to be a whisper but turned out more like a fog horn.

Dudley's verbal attack left Harry with no other option then to hold Draco back by the scruff of his neck. "Stop it Draco I mean it, and Dudley I can not control the reactions to your fat mouth so keep it closed." Draco stopped struggling, and Dudley didn't say a word, but neither of the two boys missed the prideful look in the piggy boy's eyes.

He knew he had just gained the best body guard in the world. He had no intention of keeping Harry's secret for long but that didn't mean he wouldn't get what he could out of it. His father had taught him that by saying that if they had to house the freak then he would earn his keep, and pay his pound of flesh. If he had to be surrounded by freaks then they were going to pay for it.

Harry was busy reading his cousin's thoughts. He was furious there was nothing he could do to stop it. If he did anything to Dudley now then everyone would know his secret before breakfast was even over. If he left things as they were all he could do was hope he could stop Dudley from spilling everything. He had to tread carefully, he had done some checking on the type of wards surrounding Dudley. Dumbledore wasn't as insane as he had thought, the shields were there, but over top of them was an alarm set to alert the Headmaster if someone even tried to cast a spell on Dudley. Harry was lucky he didn't get in trouble for last night's loss of temper.

"Come on Dudley it's time to head up to breakfast. Keep your mouth closed and I wont have the need to rescue you. I can only stop them if I am there. You get cornered alone and you are on your own, got it?" Harry questioned harshly his temper rising from feeling backed into a corner.

"What makes you think I need your help?" Dudley countered.

"Because these so called freaks have power. Even the tiniest first year could knock you on your ass with Wingardium Leviosa." Harry pointed out.

"But those things that old freak put on me won't they protect me?" Dudley asked suddenly seeming less sure of himself. He felt ever so much better when the kids he beat up on couldn't beat back.

"I trust Dumbledore about as far as I can throw him, without my wand. I can tell you that he did put wards on you, I can not tell you what they do. After all I know a few wards that actually increase the intensity of a spell." Harry said cruelly as he lead Dudley out of the dorm. It was petty and he knew it but if Dudley had something to hold over his head he was going to get jabs in where ever he could. He just needed to wait for the right time. His caution around Dumbledore was quickly fading in direct proportion to his hatred of his cousin. He didn't know how long he would last when he traded the pleasure of punching the lights out of his cousin for the pain of people fonding out his past.

Breakfast was a disaster. Dudley ate like a pig in quantities four times larger then any other at the table.

"I never thought any one could out eat Crabbe and Goyle, unfortunately I was wrong." Draco commented quietly to Harry. From what he had caught of the conversation this morning he knew Dudley was holding something over Harry's head and that something was enough to piss Harry off, and a pissed off Harry was the most dangerous thing in Hogwarts, rivaled only by a pissed off Snape.

Classes were worse. At one point in time Dudley's mouth made Harry have to save him from no less then four different people at the same time. Dudley was just lucky Harry was the strongest wizard in his year, and people knew it. Harry never even had to draw his wand anymore one of his glares, learned from Severus of course, would make even seventh years back down.

It didn't help that Dudley sitting in the back of his classes, while supposed to be studying, was making more racket then a pack of harpies. Even Harry lost his concentration and that took a lot of effort. Harry wanted nothing more then to join in his classmates homicidal crusade but his hands were tied.

Finally dinner was over and they were back in the dorms, unfortunately for Dudley he had pushed his cousin too far when he tried to force Harry into doing his assignments for him. The entire Slytherin house got to watch the slow as one of their best showed some of the power that got him that respect.

Harry had grabbed Dudley by his piggy little neck, again with his magic bolstering his physical strength. The alarms on Dudley not going off because the magic was on Harry not directed at Dudley.

"Dudley I warned you, and you had to go and push me too far. In here these are the few people I don't care if they find out. You are not going to be the one who ruins my Hogwarts years. Its bad enough i lost my child hood to your monster of a father." Harry said punching Dudley firmly in the nose feeling the crunch of broken bones. Dudley just whimpered not being able to form words.

"I am going to make you scream Dudley. You remember all the times you stood in the door way laughing while Vernon broke my bones and tore my flesh, hmm. Well payback is a bitch and i find it highly therapeutic." Harry continued his litany while landing punches in Dudley's face. He would punch elsewhere but Dudley was so obese it wouldn't cause enough damage to satisfy him.

Dudley finally let out a scream and another Slytherin, understanding Harry's rage, cast a silencing spell on the common room. No one said a word as Harry pounded his own cousin into an unrecognizable mess. That might have had something to do with that fact Harry was frightening when he was angry. First of all his arm was swathed in deadly green light as his magic helped him punch harder. His eyes glowed with power that he was aching to release just barely managing to hold back. His voice deepened with a low smooth poisonous tone. The venom in his words combining with the tone to create one terrifying combination. Harry was strong and he was not afraid to show it.

It had to have taken an hour for Harry to fully release his temper.

"Now Dudley you are going to listen and listen good. If you so much as whisper a word of this to anyone next time I wont hold back. I am not one of the little kids that don't fight back, you mess with me and I will fight back." Harry said brutally hauling Dudley to his feet. Dragging him behind like a four hundred pound sack of potatoes Harry brought him to Severus.

"Harry what happened." Severus asked incredulously.

"I lost my temper, so I hit him a few times." Harry replied back weakly his anger was gone now and he was tired out.

"What did you hit him with?" He asked startled. Examining the deep purple bruising on the nearly unconscious Dudley.

"My fist." Harry confessed.

"Next time use a club it might cause less damage, you nearly killed him." Severus pointed out. Then he sighed and said. "I know why you lost your temper, and I think i am just going to heal the surface damage and some of the bones. If he has the pain to deal with then maybe he will think twice about repeating the mistake."

"Thank you Severus." Harry replied starting to shake and not noticing.

"Harry I think you could use a calming potion and then bed." Severus ordered. "I will make sure Dudley is functional by tomorrow, go take care of yourself." He then handed Harry a vial of Calming Drought. Harry kissed him lightly then followed his orders.  
******  
**


	5. Finding Out

******  
**Chapter Five:Finding Out

**  
**"You are going to pay, Freak." were the first words uttered by Dudley when he regained consciousness.

Harry sat inthe corner of the room. His back was straight up and his arms were crossed. The beautiful Avada Kedavara green eyes were trained on his pig of a cousin taking in the expression and the healed wounds.

"I see Severus healed you up just fine," Harry remarked, and as Dudley shifted again he winced and bit back a scream at the pain. "Perfectly fine indeed." He commented again.

"That old freak said you couldn't hurt me!" Dudley yelled indignantly the quick movements causing enough pain he couldn't hold back his scream.

"And I warned you not to cross me, or trust him for that matter. The wards he placed on you only stopped you from being magically harmed it does nothing to protect you from mundane attacks. Plus who do you think Hogwarts will believe? Me the wizard who is supposed to save their arses, or you my great muggle of a cousin? You can tell them all you want of my childhood but no one will believe I touched you. Professor Snape's skills are amazing are they not? No test will show you were hurt at all. The only remnant is the pain you are feeling but since the injuries themselves are healed you are out of luck arn't you?" Harry drove his point home.

"I will ruin you Freak," Dudley vowed, probably not understanding a word he said but concentrating on his own revenge.

"Ruin away," Harry said leaving the room at a swift pace.

He deliberately left Dudley to navigate the labyrinth of corridors that made up the Hogwarts dungeons alone. He felt the fat tub of lard could use the extra exertion.

Dudley missed breakfast that morning, and didn't show up for his morning lessons either. Harry was royally enjoying his Dursley free day when Dudley finally came into the Great Hall in the middle of lunch. He had work to do.

Harry watched with little interest, from his seat next to Blaise, as his cousin walked to the Gryffindor table spoke with them for a moment and a place was made for him. Soon a group of Gryffindor sixth years was surrounding a madly gesticulating Dudley, and Harry could guess what was being said. Suddenly his lunch didn't look as appetizing to him as it once did.

"Blaise," Harry started talking to the friend that was physically closer to him not wanting to say this loud. "I think Dudley is starting to cause some problems." he said motioning towards the huddled Gryffindors.

"What does he know that could cause much trouble?" The dark skinned Slytherin asked.

"You know enough of my history to guess my upbringing wasn't exactly wholesome. Well he knows all of it considering he played a large role in it all." Harry whispered.

"How is he going to manage making you look bad and absolving himself?" Blaise asked trying to see things logically.

"Simple he picked the right people to start the rumor. Some of the Gryffindors will do anything to have dirt on one of us, including ignore the abuser in front of them. I hold out some hope that at least most of them will have the common sense to tell Dudley to fuck off." Harry explained conveniently forgetting to mention the reason he held out hope for the Gryffindors was because of the Sorting Hat mentioning Gryffindor as a possibility for him.

"If this gets out can you handle it?" Blaise asked with a worried look in his eyes.

"I think so but you have to remember this isn't the only secret Dudley knows. Hopefully he won't realize that the other secret he is aware of could cause more damage. I should be alright." Harry answered honestly.

Blaise knew better then to ask what the other secret was. Harry could be as closed off as a vice for anything he didn't want someone to know, and if this was as dangerous as Harry implied then no one was going to find out until Harry wanted them to know. How Dudley had managed to learn this was beyond him at this stage of the game.

"You are not alone," Blaise replied to the slightly worried Harry. Blaise was worried that whatever was about to come out would push Harry over the edge. Most if not all the Slytherins had some idea of just how strong Harry was. If things went bad there was no telling the destruction he could cause.

"One more thing. I need you, Theo, and Draco to owl your parents. I need to know anything and everything there is on disarming an alarm ward without being detected by the original caster. Oh, and i am not picky about the... umm... variety of magic." Harry said to Blaise who quickly nodded his head. There was the conformation they had been looking for. Harry had just told him not to worry if the spell was Light or Dark.

"How deep have you gone?" Blaise asked before he could stop himself.

"I am on the edge of the Abyss. Nothing left but the Ultimate." Harry shared surprisingly frank.

What Harry just said translated out of Death Eater code was he had performed all the Dark Arts except the killing curse. The Ultimate was the code word for Avada Kedavara. When a dark wizard went into the Abyss it meant they had crossed the line between Dark and Evil. Voldemort was supposedly at the bottom of the Abyss, with several of his inner circle close behind.

"You have tampered with Scarlet Magic?" Blaise asked in disbelief, decoding Harry's words, Scarlet was very harsh stuff.

Scarlet magic was blood magic, and considered the Darkest Art topped only by the Unforgivables. Most Dark wizards would not touch Scarlet magic it was too dangerous for the caster. It fed off of life energy, verses the Unforgivables which used soul energy. If the caster did not have the magic to back up a Scarlet spell they could kill themselves frighteningly easy.

"Yes," Harry admitted simply. "And I know their illustrious leader of the light has as well. Where do you think Blood Wards and the Fidelous Charm come from?" Harry pointed out.

Just then the bell rang for afternoon classes and everyone shuffled out of the hall. Harry preparing for the onslaught as his next class was potions with Severus, and the Gryffindors. Whoever put those two together ought to be shot, Harry thought darkly.


	6. Stripping Comfort

******  
**Chapter Six:Stripping Comfort

The next two hours were torture. The Gryffindors had finally went and done it, they had found a way to make Harry officially hate his favorite class.

Harry loved potions, brewing them, watching them develop, learning their effects. Potions were so much more versatile then spell work, and a whole lot more satisfying when done correctly. He loved to watch Severus work his art. The passion the man had for the subject lost in his frustration with poor studentship.

He had been looking forward to those few precious hours shut in the dungeon. The calming presence of Severus would be a welcome comfort, but that hope was soon shattered.

"So the big bad Slytherin couldn't even defend himself from a big, fat, muggle? Nothing but a scared, abused little fagot arn't you?" Harry heard his cousin's voice grate across the room, and at first he didn't react beyond balling up his fists so tight his fists turned white.

Harry knew his cousin was being coached by the Gryffindors on what to say. It was just too perfect an attack to have come from just Dudley, not too mention all the wizarding terms. He figured the Gryffindors would soon get bored with Dudley's better-then-you act. Lions did have notoriously short temper and Dudley could get annoying quickly, maybe if Harry waited long enough the Gryffindors would take care of his cousin for him.

"Potter is it true that you scream in your sleep? Poor little Harry still bothered by a bad dream." This one stung a little more. If they had seen what he had then they would scream too. They knew nothing.

"Just a useless Freak, dad was right you are a good for nothing piece of trash!"

"MR. DURSLEY, I will not tolerate any further remarks in my class. One More and you will receive a months worth of detentions. Due to the Headmaster's reasoning. You are to attend class like any other student you will be expected to follow the same rules and accept the same punishments." Severus's voice cut through the students like a knife blade.

Harry had never heard such a beautiful sound as Severus's voice at that moment. Too bad one red haired Gryffindor had way too much anger and not enough common sense.

"But Professor, Potter started it. He has been torturing his cousin ever since Dudley arrived just because he had a grudge against Dudley's father" Ron nearly shouted.

Harry had finally had enough of these attacks and beat Severus out for the reply.

"A GRUDGE! You are mistaken Weasley, I harbor no grudge against my uncle, just a nice deep endearing hatred. This creature and his family made my life hell. They turned a child into a wraith covered in black, blue, and red. No three year old should know the pain of broken ribs. No five year old should know how to set a broken arm.

Tell me when you were ten did you get three square meals a day, clothes on your back, and a warm hug when you needed it? I know all about you, you are poor, yet you have the biggest treasure of all and squander it away searching for money, and prestige. I had nothing except bruises, blood, pain, and chores, while this tub of lard got to sit around eating himself to death and even participating.

Are you happy now Dudley? Does it make you feel better to know my classmates know I was abused? Does it make you feel righteous that you have found cohorts among the people you call freaks? Does it make you feel safe to hide behind the truth with cunning lies? I see you left out the parts where you helped.

I remember the times you held my arms behind my back, or held my legs, or punched while he kicked. I remember having to cook breakfast three times because you would complain about being hungry and I would get nothing to eat for days on end. I remember you and your little gang betting up every kid five years younger then you, five on one, and you gloating about it."

"Alright Harry, you can calm down now." Severus said gently.

"Why should I?" Harry challenged.

"Because your magic is making the room shake." The quiet answer brought Harry back to reality to find the room was indeed tremoring. Taking a few deep breaths he reined in his temper, thus settling the rumbles. He was still seething with anger but years of practice had honed his calming skills to perfection.

"Mr. Weasley detention for arguing with a teacher. Mr. Potter stay after class I wish to speak with you." Severus ordered then turned back to teaching the class.

Harry relaxed into his potion. The calming affects of brewing doing wonders for his anger, but it couldn't help the worry. Dudley had been right, even if it was with coaching, he hadn't been able to defend himself from Vernon. He was so famous and yet couldn't even protect himself. He didn't give a damn what happened to the wizarding world but they were still strong enough to hurt him if they tried. He had enough in his past to be sentenced to Azkaban and never see daylight again, the ministry or Dumbledore just had to dig in the right places and he would be caught. This could very well be the reason they start digging.

The end of the class was a welcome moment for everyone in the dungeons. The class period had been spent in a frosty silence. The revelations that had been given were being digested and the first stirrings of rumor were being cooked up. Harry had known the quiet formulating meant that his secrets would be splashed all over Hogwarts. For seven years he had been silent as a sentry and yet people had still found out all thanks to one ignorant muggle and a medaling headmaster.

The rest of the students hurried towards the door and when the last pair of scampering footsteps echoed down the corridors the door to the dungeon was spelled closed and locked.

In a rare show of physical affection Harry soon had Severus in his arms. The warm comforting presence doing more good then a cauldron full of Calming Drought.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Harry asked not releasing his grip.

"I talked with a few of my old contacts, and I may have found something that could remove the alarms on Dudley and lower the shields on the off chance Dumbledore may have reinforced them, I doubt it, but he is a crafty bastard." Severus explained.

"How does it work?" Harry asked eagerly, his arms tightening reflexively, not hurting Severus but not comfortable either.

"Well if you loosen your grip a little I might tell you." Severus teased a little as the arms around him loosened back to their previous comforting hold.

"It combines both Scarlet magic and a bit of Insular magic. I trust you know what they are?" Severus asked side long, knowing Harry didn't like to be called out if he didn't know something.

"Yes I do, but what spell combines both blood magic and identity magic?" Harry asked, Insular magic was called either private magic or identity magic, it was what dealt with a wizards personalized set of magic like magical core or signature. Branches of this magic could be either Dark or Light, making it one of the more common Dark Arts branches practiced.

Wizards mistakenly thinking just because some of it was Light it made it any less damage. A wizard could permanently block access to their cores, or remove their magical signature. Resulting in either loss of your control over magic, or a term in Azkaban, a simple medical scan worked through magical signatures any one found dabbling could wind up dementor chow.

Combining Scarlet and Insular magic was one of the hardest branches of Dark Arts, you could completely create or destroy a persons existence with that combination, the only thing harder was combining any of those two with Animate or Soul magics.

"It isn't a spell it is a ritual, it works by replacing the alarms from original caster of the alarm to the person performing the ritual. It would allow you to turn them off by tricking the alarms into thinking you were Dumbledore. The beauty of it is Dumbledore won't know he will assume the alarms are in fine working order. The only way he could find out would be if he cast a spell on Dudley himself and nothing would go off in his head." Severus explained.

"What things do I need for the ritual?" Harry asked.

"There is a potion similar to Polyjuice that you are to drink, it must contain something with Dumbledore's DNA, and you have to be the one to brew it so it is your signature over riding Dumbledore's. Then after you have consumed the potion you have to combine blood with your cousin, a cut on your hands would work, this puts the traces of the alarm in you and puts the potion in him. The traces of the alarm in your blood stabilizes the spell so Dumbledore does not find out and the potion in his system will make the alarm spell recognize your signature as Dumbledore's combined with the old man's DNA." Severus walked through the ritual. "No words are needed, this is done completely silent, the magic in the components will work the spell without your direction."

"That is unusual." Harry observed as he thought over the process in his mind. "So, how long does the potion take to brew? The sooner the better."

"If I had all the ingredients about an hour, but I need something fresh with Dumbledore's DNA." Severus said after a moments thought.

"Would hair work?" Harry asked not knowing if there was enough genetic material in it to work right.

"I would need more then one strand but it would work." Severus answered.

"Call a house elf," Harry requested. Severus just snapped his fingers and a little elf in a Hogwarts uniform popped into the dungeon.

"Can Slippy help you Masters?" Slippy asked in a high pitched squeaky voice.

"Has the Headmaster's laundry been finished?" Harry asked as Severus carefully sent a Secrecy spell at the elf, it wouldn't be able to tell anyone about this order.

"Not yet, much to do in the castle," Slippy replied.

"Could you get a few of his hairs? We are making a gift for the Headmaster and we need it to finish." Harry said reassuring the fanatically loyal house elf.

"Yes Young Master," Slippy responded.

It did not take the little elf long to complete her mission so soon after the two wizards were standing over a bubbling cauldron. Severus was careful not to get too close his signature confused the potion, but he tried to keep close enough he could catch Harry if he was about to make a mistake. Harry was phenomenally good with potions but accidents happened and some of those ingredients were highly volatile.

It was time to get Dudley. They only had one shot at this. If it didn't work the Headmaster would find out about the attempt, and this was exceedingly Dark Magic, they were risking it all with this, but it was too good to pass up.

Dudley certainly did not want to go quietly. A Silencing charm and a Full-Body Bind later and he was seething in silence about his uncooperative participation. He was obviously expecting some big event, the actual process was kind of anti-climatic.

Harry drank the potion down, hating the taste but managing anyway, taking out a clean knife he made a deep slice in his hand and an identical one in Dudley's. Locking their bleeding hands together, tiny golden sparks leaped from wound to wound and Harry knew the magic was working to exchange the needed information. A slight shift in his mind alerted him to the moving of the alarm, Dudley was unresponsive at this point, not being able to talk even when trying his hardest.

Harry did not move his hand until the shifting in his mind stopped and the golden sparks had healed the wounds.

Looking Dudley over Harry grinned evilly, the ritual was a success. Let the torture begin!


	7. Torture and Tournaments a side of slash

******  
**Chapter Seven: Torture and Tournaments

Harry smirked evilly at his cousin, spells and curses running through his head at a faster than light speed. He needed to start slowly after all, Dudley had never worked a day in his life, and the only time he had met with pain was the time Harry's fists flew in the common room. If Harry started off with the Cruciatus, which he desperately wanted to do. Then Dudley would probably be insane or dead before ten seconds were up, and Harry couldn't afford leaving permanent damage. Even an Obliviate charm couldn't cover pain induced mania.

In the time it took Dudley to become near comatose with panic Harry had already organized a torture regimen in his mind. When the last charms were plotted out in his mind the smirk was over taken by a totally evil smile. If Dudley was frightened before he was positively petrified now.

Harry started in on his plans immediately never having removed the body bind and silencing charms he had placed on Dudley for the ritual.

"Sectumsempra," he whispered lowly controlling the amount of magic in the spell. The results of which was a thin cut no deeper than a paper cut. Even that little pain caused the fat lump of quivering Dudley to flinch.

Harry nearly sighed when he saw that, this was going to take a lot longer than he thought to accomplish. Then the smirk returned as he remembered that thanks to Dumbledore he had complete access to his cousin for the rest of the year, he would definitely have enough time to complete his mission.

With that thought held firmly in his mind he continued placing those tiny cuts all over Dudley's body. None of them were bleeding profusely but if a person had enough shallow cuts on them the blood loss was bound to be noticed. This was Harry's reasoning behind using the smaller cuts. In the end it was just as draining as the full force hex but he got more satisfaction in casting more spells, and Dudley would survive to see another day of torture.

What Dudley didn't know was Harry was placing the exact same number of small cuts on him as the amount of times Dudley had pushed him to the ground drawing blood. During those episodes in his youth Harry's Slytherin instincts took over and he had kept detailed accounts of the abuse from the time he was old enough to understand what the word abuse meant. Harry was Dark no doubt about that but what he was doing now was serving as more than just satisfying his darker side, it was in all intents and purposes, justice.

At this point in time Dudley was quivering in pain with tears streaming down his face and Harry once again wondered how he could share blood with this pathetic creature.

"Acerbos," Harry's next curse was a nasty borderline Dark hex. In fact Harry had it on good authority this curse was only legal because the ministry used it to question prisoners of war. The effects of the spell were equivalent to pouring acid onto wounds. This spell could only be used if the target had an open wound.

Dudley however had a lot of open wounds. His howl of pain was obvious even through the silencing spell.

Harry knew no matter how much he wished he could continue Dudley couldn't take much more of this. He began casting spells to hide the evidence of this session.

"Glamourous!" Hid the wounds from view so even if you touched Dudley or had a magnifying glass you couldn't tell he had been harmed.

"Anestheium!" Was said to deaden the pain from the wounds, but Harry only whispered the spell, Dudley would still feel incredibly sore the next morning.

"Obliviate! We have spent the evening arguing and the argument escalated to physically fighting, I was forced to bind and silence you to protect myself." Harry created a memory on the spot remembering he had cast those two spells before he had removed the alarm. With a little of Severus's backing they would be able to cover up his little slip of the tongue.

While the disorienting affects of the Obliviate spell were still noticeable on Dudley Harry levitated him back to his bed and dumped him unceremoniously on the bed.

Harry was still wide awake and the small magics he had used had just served to stimulate his core instead of drain it. He could feel his magic pulsing inside of him wanting a release but obeying his command to stay silent for the most part. Remembering it was a Friday night and it was not unusual for a student or a teacher to miss breakfast on Saturdays, he had a plan in mind.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Skip if you are uncomfortable with a student seducing a teacher XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Harry slipped quietly out of the common room. It wouldn't due to wake another Slytherin; his housemates were incredibly intelligent it wouldn't take long to put two and two together. He was not about to jeopardize his deepest secret.

Traveling deeper into the dungeons he went towards where he knew his prize was located. The portrait guardian was nothing other than a serpent, and Harry was able to smoothly sweet talk the creature into fetching it's master.

Five minutes later Severus Snape opened his portrait door, and once Harry caught sight of his un-rumpled robes he knew the older man had yet to go to bed. Perfect.

Before Severus could react to his presence Harry had already pulled him into a kiss. After a slight reorienting pause Severus eagerly returned it. Harry was able to steer them back into the dark chambers behind his lover. While the two wizards were evenly matched height wise Harry had a larger build and was easily able to overpower the other wizard.

Feeling the intensity of the encounter grow exponentially, Harry broke off the kiss and started to loosen buttons, only to stop and ask, "Are you ok with this?"

Severus knew he shouldn't be, he was the same age as Harry's father, and he was his teacher. That alone should have stopped him, but he instead replied. "Heaven help me, I should stop this but I don't want to."

That was all that needed to be said before Harry continued his slow loosening of buttons. His emerald eyes locked with onyx never leaving the others face.

As each piece of incredibly pale skin was revealed Harry's hands roamed its surface. The two of them ended up settled on the thick rug laid out before a crackling fire. Once settled long nimble fingers were working on the buttons of Harry's shirt and loosening the silver and green tie around his neck.

As he felt his own clothing being removed Harry finished off the buttons holding Severus's robes on. Slowly he lowered the thick black fabric off the slender shoulders to reveal the fact the only thing the potions master wore beneath his robes was a pair of black trousers. Sitting so he was straddling the older man's thighs he took in the sight of his half naked lover.

Severus was not conventionally handsome, but to Harry he didn't need to be. His hair was greased with the dedication he possessed towards his given profession. His skin was paled with his loyalty to his house, rarely leaving the castle so his precious snakes could get to him if they needed him. His nose was hooked with the number of times it had been broken in service to not one but two masters. It didn't matter to Harry that others found him unappealing; to him the attributes others hated were the things that made Severus himself. He loved the man for who he was, not for looking like the latest fashion model in Witch Weekly.

This was the man who had guided and helped him in a world that only wanted him for his title. This was the person who had been there when he needed someone the most. This was the wizard who knew all his secrets and would keep them until death if he had to. This was the one who had his loyalty and his love. This was the one who belonged to him and no others.

X actual slash scene X (keep in mind I have to work within regulations it isn't very strong)

With this thought in mind Harry ravaged the body below him. Kissing, and nibbling every pale surface of skin he could reach. Feeling the other's hands rake across his back and hips he knew Severus was enjoying the attentions. It did not take either of them very long to be ready for more. The rest of the clothing still left on bodies was ripped away with unchecked abandoned.

Harry carefully prepared Severus. His dominance was already established and Severus didn't seem to want to interfere. Despite feeling like his blood was going to boil right through his veins Harry was able to go slow for the first part. After the first strangled cry rose from the body beneath him, he lost whatever control he had to begin with. With great abandon the two powerful wizards thrust together again and again. It wasn't the slow sensual seduction Harry had first planned on but he couldn't help but think this was better.

Or more precisely that's what he would have thought if he was capable of coherent thought at that point which wasn't really going to happen any time soon.

The sensations were overwhelming as they continued to come together. A slightly sadomasochistic side came out within the rising heat as Harry began to bite and suck hard at Severus's neck and shoulders, and Severus used his nails to claw at Harry's muscular back in a steady tempo to the thrusts. A little blood was spilt with the force of their passions but was barely even noticed by the two lovers. The sounds being ripped from their throats rose in a crescendo of violent love.

With a wild growl and another blazing kiss they came together one more time and they both spilt their seed.

"You're mine." Harry growled out his voice husky in the afterglow.

"Yours," Severus agreed just as huskily. It felt good to him to let go of his carefully cultivated control. He wanted to let go and let someone else take care of things, this was his chance. Harry had become his everything; he would follow him to hell itself if that is where Harry wanted to go.

The second round of the evening was a lot slower than the first time, the kind of lovemaking that showed the couple had nothing but time to do what they liked. They even made it to the bed for this one.

The third was taken with the urgency of knowing the dawn must come despite the lovers embrace. Fast and brutal it left just as many marks as the first round.

Sleep was not a part of the equation that night and it was lucky both wizards were used to running on very little reserves.

X slash scene done X

When the sun finally made its appearance the two lovers were resting on the bed, Harry's fingers tracing lightly over Severus's chest. They both bore marks from the previous night's activity but didn't feel the need to get rid of them.

"If I don't leave soon I know someone is going to see me leave." Harry observed but didn't appear to be making any moves to follow his own advice.

"You're probably right and if at least one of us doesn't go to breakfast Dumbledore will probably get suspicious." Severus added to the observation.

With a groan Harry shifted and sat up, the healing scratch marks on his back pulling a little. "Here, I always keep a few pain killers on hand so I can treat myself without going to Pomfrey after meetings." Severus said handing him the painkilling draught and drinking one down himself, though the one Severus drank himself was a stronger potion than Harry's.

Harry twisted around and placed one last kiss on Severus's lips before getting to his feet and started gathering up his clothing. Pulling just his pants and robes on he carried his shirt and tie not bothering to put them on.

Looking back he saw that Severus was already dressed in plain black pants and a dress shirt that was left unbuttoned for the moment. "I am going up to breakfast now to keep Dumbledore off our backs." He told Harry.

"I am going to head back to the dorms, and get fresh clothes and a shower, it would look strange for the two of us to come into the great hall at the same time." Harry informed Severus.

"Alright see you in a little while." Severus agreed and kissed Harry again before the younger wizard left.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Safe zone XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Damn Harry what happened to you?" This was Theo's highly intelligent question when he saw Harry come out of the boy's shower with a towel wrapped around his waist. It was only the four friends in the room at this point in time.

Theo's remark caused both Blaise and Draco to take notice of Harry's appearance. Taking in the bite and scratch marks as Harry dressed Blaise observed. "Ok, you were either in a duel and lost or had the best shag of your life." When Harry's only answer was a slight blush, and to settle back on his bed knowing he was in for a long explanation, Blaise knew which part was true.

"Who was it?" He asked in a teasing voice, "And did they happen to have vampire blood in them?" He asked noting the severity of some of the marks.

"No he doesn't have vampire blood, and if you think this is bad you should see him!" Harry said laughing.

"Ah, Harry you never told us who it was?" Theo pointed out.

"I didn't now did I," Harry both answered and asked, half infuriating his friends, well all but one of his friends.

"Harry, if we guess correctly will you tell us?" Draco asked knowing he was right.

Harry knew the confidence in Draco's voice meant he knew for sure. Moment of truth time here, should he trust them, or leave them hanging. Throwing caution to the wind he just answered ruefully "Does it really matter if I tell you or not? You already have it figured out I just want to know how." Harry asked.

"I saw you two the night the Headmaster stuck us with Dudley." Draco answered.

"Why haven't you said anything?" Harry asked curiously.

"You hadn't told anyone so I just kept it to myself." Draco assured him.

"Would one of you please explain what is going on?" Blaise broke into their conversation.

"Harry's shagging Severus." Draco answered for the brightly blushing brunette.

Harry counted down in his head.

Three…  
Two…  
One…

"What!" Both Theo and Blaise called out simultaneously.

"You heard him," Harry answered the unasked question.

"You managed to seduce our head of house?" Theo said after some of the shock wore off, they had known previously that despite Harry's lack of experience he was a dominant in a relationship.

"Yup," Harry answered his embarrassment flowing away with their teasing.

"Do I even want to know how badly marked he is?" Blaise asked remembering Harry's earlier comment.

"Put it this way we both had a pain potion this morning, only his was a different color." Harry said with an odd gleam in his eye.

"I repeat Damn Harry," Theo started to say but was interrupted by the door to their room opening, revealing two highly excited girls.

"You will never guess what happened at Breakfast!" Pansy said her excitement making her voice go higher.

The other girl however took in the boy's appearance, two shocked, one gloating, and the last calmly observing. "Okay what did we miss?" Millicent asked.

"Nothing important," Harry said hastily, maybe a little too hastily.

"Ohh, what's this?" Pansy asked pointing to one of the bite marks on his neck, "Somebody got lucky last night."

"So, Millie what happened at breakfast?" Harry asked trying to get the attention off of himself.

"Dumbledore announced that there will be another tournament at Hogwarts. This one is just for this school though." Millie answered allowing the change of subject.

"The houses will duel internally by year, then the top students from each year will duel those from the other house's, then the top duels from each house will duel each other. The top student dueler will then have to face each of the teachers, they will be having a small tournament of their own, if the student beats each of the teachers he gets the title of dueling champion of Hogwarts then has to face the Headmaster. If you beat Dumbledore the ministry has agreed to award a mastery in dueling." Pansy explained in a normal voice having calmed down slightly.

"Do we even have to duel? I can tell you Harry will win our year." Draco admitted.

"Hey, I might lose!" Harry protested hating it when he was given praise for something he hadn't done yet.

"Harry, you haven't lost a duel since fourth year." Blaise pointed out.

"Someone else could get lucky." Harry protested weakly knowing he was going to lose out on this case.

"Maybe if your significant other wore you out before hand." Theo said with a laugh reminding the girls of that little fact.

"Oh come on Harry tell us who it is?" The girls asked.

"No, it's too dangerous, I'm sorry I just can't tell you." Harry said with finality.


	8. Jokes Duels Headmasters and Wards Oh My!

**Wicked Game**

**DaggersBloodPain**

**Chapter Eight**

**Jokes, Duels, Headmasters, and Wards Oh My!!**

"So Harry with the tournament coming up do you think we should get the old crowd back together?" Blaise asked after things had settled down.

"Yeah, that way everyone else has a chance!" Theo said jokingly.

"Probably a good idea, I don't like the idea of us getting rusty anyway, this just gives us an excuse." Harry answered Blaise ignoring Theo.

"What are we going to do with Dudley while we are practicing and do we have to invite the Gryffindorks?" Theo asked whining a little at the end.

"I say we take Dudley with us and show him the real reason his parents feared me. He has a taste but nothing compared to what I am capable of, and yes we are inviting the Gryffindors. They saved me remember? There was the time Granger helped us prank the Weasel back in fourth year." Harry explained.

There was a time in second year he had accidentally revealed his Parseltongue abilities. Most of the Gryffindors had tried to attack him. A few of them stood up against their house and while Harry would never be as close to them as he would the Slytherins he tolerated them much better than the rest. Plus every house had its strong points and Harry had taken the last couple of years to skim the cream of the crop from the other houses.

The 'old crowd' Blaise had asked about was a group formed during the disastrous fourth year consisting of these best of the best students. Harry ran it with occasional help from Severus. It was first formed because of the stupid Tri-wizard tournament, Harry had felt the danger of the situation and realized students would be sitting ducks with their current education.

Harry hadn't called a meeting of this little group at all that year. He had been considering it, but then Dudley showed up and the plans came to a screeching halt. Now however, Dudley was under his control and there was nothing like demonstrating a new spell on an actual target. His lessons had included some of the Dark but still legal curses already and if they wanted to win the tournament, and Harry's competitive spirit made him want to, they would need to know more.

He hadn't yet exposed them to the seriously Dark magic that he liked to play with. The difference between the magic he used and the magic he taught was measured in years at Azkaban and for the really harsh stuff the Kiss. Harry had found it amusing that when his boggart turned into a dementor everyone assumed he was afraid of fear. That was actually inaccurate to a slight degree. It wasn't their ability to suck happiness out of you that scared him, it was the ability to suck the soul right out of your mouth, and even Voldemort feared that particular power.

Draco's voice shocked him out of his musings he hadn't even noticed the blond had come in to hear his answer to Theo's question. "So when are we meeting up then?" Only another Slytherin would have been skilled enough to hear the hope carefully shielded in his voice.

"I have to play with the wards again so make it two days from now." Harry answered.

"Can we watch?" Blaise asked enthusiastically.

"Alright, but remember no matter what you see don't interfere." He reminded.

"I don't think any of us is that stupid." Theo said expansively.

"Well there was that time last year mphh…" Harry's comment was abruptly stopped by the force of the hand now covering his mouth.

"We agreed that was between us," Theo hissed then noticed the curious looks the room's occupants were giving him. "All you need to know is that Firewhiskey was involved." He said sheepishly.

"He is hilarious when he is drunk." Harry informed the others.

"I think we all knew that. After the Christmas party in fourth year I can't see what would embarrass him that much." Blaise said with a laugh.

"Well Balisie boy, Theo here was really smashed and thought I was you…" again Harry found his comment stiffeled by a hand over his mouth.

"You can stop now Harry." He nearly begged.

"Awe, but I was having fun." Harry replied with a mock pout before the whole dorm burst into laughter. It wasn't often that they allowed themselves to play like this so moments like these were cherished.

"When do you want to do the wards?" Theo asked getting serious again.

"Tonight, lets leave just before curfew, this has to be done after sundown, and I cannot be interrupted after a certain point. The closer we can get to when there are no students in the halls but no patrols either would help." Harry explained.

"Just as long as we don't get caught," Draco added.

"Pah leeze I haven't been caught since third year," Harry assured.

"Yeah, but this time you might enjoy the catching, seeing as how Severus is patrolling tonight." Draco said with a smirk. Harry even had the grace to blush.

"I still wouldn't get anyone else caught." Harry defended himself.

"I know," Draco said smoothing the rumpled feathers of his friend.

"Caught doing what exactly?" The smooth voice of their head of house startled the boys out of their conversation. How he had gotten in the room without notice was anyone's guess and no one had an answer.

"Nothing," the four simultaneous responses did nothing to quell the suspicious look on Severus's face.

"I would think by now my Slytherins would know to give at least some variety in answers. I won't ask what you are planning but if you're caught that will be a week's worth of detentions." Severus said as his shook his head.

"What did you need Sev…Professor?" Harry asked barely remembering the honorific.

"You are wanted in the Headmaster's office." Severus informed them.

Harry hoisted himself out of his comfortable position and followed his lover. "Any idea what he wants?" Harry asked hoping for some clue to tell him which act he would be putting on today.

"I believe it is to check on you and Dudley. Where is he anyway?"

"I believe the Gryffindors are entertaining him, apparently he is afraid of me, or something, as I haven't seen him since yesterday." Harry explained with a sly grin.

"Please be careful, a little Veritaserum in the wrong place and we are all in a world of trouble." Severus warned easily, but there was no bite in it.

"I know, and I have taken precautions so we didn't need to fear truth serums."

"We are here, good luck." Severus said once they had finally reached the gargoyle.

"I hope I don't need it." Harry whispered back as Severus gave the password.

Going up the spiral stairs gave Harry a chance to coach his face into a mask of cold curiosity. He couldn't be too warm to Dumbledore. He had been upset that Dudley had been placed with him, that there was bound to be some animosity left over in the Harry Dumbledore thought he knew.

"Ah, Mr. Potter I have been wishing to speak to you but other concerns came up. I notice Mr. Dursley has not been with you the past few days, may I enquire as to why that is?" Dumbledore asked without the characteristic twinkle in his eyes.

"He has been spending time with the Gryffindors, I figured he was entitled to even the small freedom of choosing where to sit after loosing his parents, I would know sir." Harry said making his eyes grow moist in a masterful use of the sympathy card.

"That is why he is best off with you, the understanding of each other's pain is the first and foremost step in overcoming it." Dumbledore said in a wise voice.

Damn, his acting had allowed the old man to justify his actions, and to quote Nicolas Flamel was bad form as well. Oh well he would have to continue the charade and hope for the best.

"I think I may remind him too much of our home life," here Harry had to conceal a wince, "it may be best for him to stay with the Gryffindors. Where he feels comfortable, I wouldn't be so cruel as to take that away from him." There it was Harry's one last hope.

"You are a very noble wizard to put your cousin's pain above your own. I will allow Dudley to remain among the Gryffindors, but don't be afraid to join him on occasions, the Gryffindors could help you too." This time the twinkle in the old man's eyes was blazing and Harry knew to tread softly, he was planning something.

"I might just do that, now may I be excused I have a Charms essay to finish." Harry said in a respectful tone.

"Yes you may, schoolwork must always come first." The old man preached.

"Good night Headmaster." Harry said simply as he exited and was admittedly disappointed when Severus wasn't there. He hadn't been in the office for more than fifteen minutes.

Upon reaching the common room he figured it out. A few third years had been mock dueling and things had gotten a little bit out of control. Severus and the upper years were busy casting spells to put the students and the room back into order.

"What started this?" Harry asked as he helped Draco patch up the furniture.

"They were practicing for the tournament, things went ok until they accidentally stunned the seventh year they had roped into casting the proximity wards. Once he was down the wards fell." Draco explained.

"Don't they know to keep their warder as far away from the duel as possible, once the proximity wards are cast the only vulnerable spot is the original caster." Harry said with a wince remembering one of his early mistakes.

"Harry hate to break it to you but you are one of the very few wizards who know that piece of information. It isn't written in the books, I would imagine the only way to know that is to actually cast the spells and find the problem." Draco explained.

"What do you mean it isn't in the books?" Harry exclaimed, once again cursing his muggle upbringing because he hadn't had access to the large libraries of the purebloods to know that it wasn't written anywhere.

"Think about it Harry, A Proximity ward is the strongest defensive spell there is. The knowledge that it would fail if the castor was knocked out would be too much of a risk to be written then fall into an opposing side's hands," Draco's pureblood education allowing him to answer the question with little to no actual information on warding.

"I see your point but I don't agree with it. You saw how much damage a couple of third year students caused imagine if that fight had involved seventh years? We might not have a common room to come back to. If you know the weakness of your spell you can compensate for it." Harry analyzed the situation.

"Excellent point, 20 points to Slytherin for a well thought out debate." The sudden inclusion of Severus wasn't quite as startling this time.

"Let me guess you just took points for destroying the common room?" Draco predicted as he rolled his eyes.

"I couldn't have it on my conscience to drop us below Gryffindor." Severus admitted with a cringe at just the thought of that horrible occurrence. "Although I wasn't kidding you both made good points." He added on for good measure.

"What do you think?" Harry asked genuinely curious.

"I believe that willfully concealing knowledge just because of the possibility of it falling into the wrong hands is wrong. The problem with that is you have to weigh whether the information is more useful known or more dangerous. In the debate about proximity wards I think the weak links should be noted just like I believe in knowing how to block a disarming spell." Severus explained quietly and no one could accuse him of automatically taking Harry's side without thought.

"Well it is almost curfew." Draco said reminding Harry of their earlier plans.

"Is whatever you are plotting important for me to know, or do I just pretend I didn't hear that, and hope I don't catch you later?" Severus reiterated his earlier statement this time with a choice.

"I have to go play with the wards a little." Harry admitted.

"And why is that?" Severus asked despite already having a pretty good idea as to why.

"The old crowd is meeting again and I need to reset the wards on our training room to keep us safe." Harry confirmed Severus's suspicions.

"I would like to see you do this." That was a branch of magic he didn't teach.

"This may take awhile, don't you have to patrol?" Harry asked.

"Students can get into trouble just fine with out me for awhile." This was said with such a straight face that Harry couldn't help but laugh.

"Alright, then we should be going now," Harry said as he lead them out of the common room.

"Harry you do realize Blaise and Theo are going to hex you when they find out we left without them." Draco pointed out.

"Not my fault, I told you earlier what I was planning, if they were too busy snogging in the dorm to come it's their own fault."

"Harry why are we going to the room of requirements?" Severus asked curiously.

"The room can provide exactly what I need in the way I need it. There is too little room for error for me to set this up myself every time." Harry explained easily.

"What kind of magic are you using?" Professional curiosity drove him to ask.

"Mostly Stone with a touch of Scarlet," Harry answered.

"I take it you are going to use your blood to 'awaken' the stones of the castle that anchor the wards."

"In the most general of terms yes, the stones anchoring the wards need to be stimulated by a strong magical substance, blood or tears of a strong wizard is the most direct. The magic in my blood will connect with the ward magic anchored in the stones. Through this connection I can funnel my will into the ward magic."

"Ok sounds simple, so what's the catch?"

"If I am distracted from the task after I have connected my magic to the wards, it could leave my magic tangled in the other and I would be left little better than a squib." Harry explained carefully.

"And what exactly are you trying to change?"

"I'm going to make the ward that detects Dark magic overlook a single room in the castle. This would be the room I use to train all year."

"How many times have you done this?" Severus asked appreciating the danger.

"Twice a year for every year I have studied Dark spells. The wards don't like knowing there is a room there and not being able to shield it. It wouldn't be so bad if I just changed the whole ward but I am essentially just putting a hole in them."

"You speak like they are sentient."

"These rocks have been bound to powerful magic, layer after layer, for centuries. They don't have awareness like you or I know the concept as, but they do have a form of sentience." Harry revealed.

"How do you know this?" Severus asked managing to keep the awe away.

"When I am connected to the magic I become a part of that spirit. It is an amazing feeling, but too dangerous for me to just play with." At this point Harry was pacing in front of the wall that housed the most magically inclined room in the castle.

When the door opened the room beyond was simple. It was reminiscent of a dungeon cell with stone walls and ceiling with a flagstone floor. Along the side of the room stone benches were built directly into the wall. In the center of the room a raised piece of what appeared to be granite jutted up from the floor. Surrounding the granite pedestal was a seven pointed star made from blood red lava stone. The glimmer of a plain stainless steel dagger glittered in innocent danger from its spot resting on the granite slab.

Draco and Severus went quietly to one of the benches as Harry walked to the granite slab. They watched as he carefully cut open his palms without a flinch or wince. He sat his bleeding palms against the stone and his unblinking eyes lost all focus. His lips moved but no words reached the ears of the watchers. It really didn't look like much was happening.

Until they saw a shiver race through Harry's body quickly followed by another and another. The tremors racked his body as his forehead broke out in sweat as the lips moved faster. A strange golden shimmer seemed to encase the brunette wizard as his body continued to shake, his power being pulled out and pushed back in at a dizzying speed.

Severus who was watching Harry's face was the first to notice the brilliant emerald of his eyes had been joined by the thin threads of color and as the seconds wore on more threads appeared some were silver in color but the majority was gold.

At the height of the transfer Harry threw his head back in a silent scream of release as the golden light encased his adulate expression, his hands still firmly planted on the stone. The onlookers could see Harry was no longer in control of his body, he was now a conduit for the magic racing through him.

The light slowly reseeded back into his body as the magic finished its job. He began to regain control but still didn't remove his hands from the stone and his head was still tilted back in absolute submission to the power.

When Harry finally lifted his head he caught Severus' gaze with his own and Severus received a shock. Harry's eyes shown with gold not emerald, and like pools of liquid gold they shimmered and shifted occasionally exposing some silver.

Only when his eyes had completely returned to their normal color and the golden light no longer misted across his skin, did he lift his hands from the stone. They were smooth and unblemished, no noticeable scar, nothing that even suggested there had been markings or wounds there of any kind.

"It is done," Harry said exhaustion filling him. Being a magical conduit took all of his energy and he had yet to find anything to help with that other than a good long rest.


	9. Ranting and Revealing

**Wicked Game**

**DaggersBloodPain**

**A/N **This chapter is unbeta'd at the moment I will post the cleaned up chapter when it comes back to me, but I figured you had waited long enough, but fear not I actually have a beta.

**Chapter Nine**

**Ranting and Revealing**

Draco had to help the exhausted Harry back to the dorms as Severus had to start patrolling the halls. Harry was very wobbly on his feet but refused to use his friend as a crutch. Draco ended up walking a pace or two behind Harry in order to catch the brunette wizard if he happened to fall. Where Harry got the strength to keep going beyond the point of exhaustion Draco could only guess at.

When they did manage to get to the dorm, the sheer tiredness of Harry proved to Theo and Blaise that they had indeed missed the show. They knew better than to try and reprimand Harry, at that point in time, in the state he was in it was doubtful Harry would remember it if they did. It was best for all if they waited for Harry to get some sleep before the inevitable reprimands came.

Harry just flopped onto his bed barely having the energy to kick off his shoes and remove his robes. Draco's quick thinking saved Harry's glasses from a crushing fate. A muttered spell from Blaise transfigured Harry's uniform into Pajamas, while Theo extinguished the light.

Like anytime Harry 'played' with the wards he slept in until lunchtime the following day, luckily Sunday, and woke up ravenously hungry, taking advantage of the fact third years and above were allowed to wear casual clothes on the weekend he just slipped on a pair of jeans and a black shirt not fusing with shirt buttons, ties, or robes. This allowed him to get to the Great Hall quickly and he slid into place between Draco and Theo he began to pile a substantial amount of food on his plate.

Harry had enough restraint not to wolf it all down at once but he did eat steadily until his plate was completely clean. He didn't even stop to talk. Afterwards he gulped down his goblet of pumpkin juice he knew the house elves spiked with nutrient potion on Severus's request ever since his first year. Finally satisfied he turned his head to talk to Draco ignoring the curious glances shot at him discreetly by his house mates. The late waking and large lunch were all good indicators of magical core regeneration, the Slytherins were observant enough to know Harry had most likely been playing with high powered magics the night before. Most just wrote it off as practice for the tournament, as similar binging was happening at most of the tables in the hall, and Harry was thankful for the ready made excuse.

"Old Crowd meeting still tomorrow?" Draco asked lowly, but not in a whisper as he knew whispers actually carried further.

"Yeah, but it will take me the rest of today to recover." Harry explained, then got a resigned look on his face. "If we had a duel right now I would loose." His expression become covertly mixed with mischief.

"No, I am not going to take you up on that offer. I know you better then that, you could trounce me anytime you wanted to. What accounts for magical exhaustion in you equates to our normal range, and you are still faster than me." Draco admitted.

"Spoilsport, I was actually hoping to have a duel where I wasn't guaranteed a victory. You make it sound like I'm some kind of god or something. I'm just Harry you know that, its not like I chose how much power to wield." He pointed out.

"Harry quit being so hard on yourself, so you have more power than me, I can accept that, but whenever its brought up you shy away from it. I know with the kind of magic you are capable of using you have to have confidence in your powers. Why can't you admit it even to us?" Draco asked honestly.

"I do admit it, did I not just say I wanted a duel I might have a chance of losing? I just don't like it when I am made out to be somebody I am not."

"But Harry, I was being honest. You are not a god to me you are 'just Harry' but I don't think 'just Harry' is a weakling. I think you are stronger than just about anyone here. All wizards have different amounts of power. You just got more than the majority, why does this upset you when you should be proud of yourself?" Draco asked pushing the barriers he knew Harry put up.

"Because, I am already a freak in one world I do not wish to be a different kind of freak in this one." Harry pointed out before rising from his seat and stalking out of the Great Hall in a masterful imitation of his lover.

He found a secluded spot in one of Hogwarts many towers. The large windows left a deep enough depression int the stone wall Harry could sit on the ledge pressed up against the cold glass and rest his back on the old stones. The chill barely touched him in his emotionally taxed state.

Draco had hit a soft spot in his defenses. The one area few would venture into and Harry was very grateful for the fact. You see internally he had no problem with the intensity of his magic. What he didn't like was for other people to notice. The Dursleys had conditioned him to think that to let others know of his freakishness led to bad things happening. He hadn't been lying to Draco he really did think he was just a different kind of freak here. Nothing he had seen had told him otherwise.

The only reason he hadn't completely rejected and suppressed his magic was Severus' careful guidance. He knew it wasn't the fault of magic that he was a freak. He just went back to his old Dursley ingrained habits of hiding anything unusual about himself.

This year all his carefully guarded secrets were coming out. Things he had never told another wizard before, and that included Severus.

As if thinking the name had somehow summoned him Harry felt himself become enveloped in strong arms and billowing black robes. "I saw you arguing with Draco, please tell me what happened?" Severus asked him gently.

"Draco managed to hit a sore spot unintentionally. He found out something I didn't want him to. Everything I didn't want the wizarding world to know is coming out into the open and I can't stop it. Everything had been going just fine until Dumbledore stuck his large crooked nose into it. With every one of his moves my hand was forced. I hate constantly being on the defense. I know he had nothing to do with Draco's questions today. I just know I would have been able to handle it if I hadn't been so strung out from dealing with everything else." Harry explained at first remaining in Severus' arms soaking up the offered comfort, but as his speech grew more agitated the need to move grew until the last part of his tirade was accompanied by frantic pacing.

"You have every right to be angry but, I honestly think people would have started figuring things out sooner or later. You just said Draco's questions were unrelated to Dumbledore. As time went on he would ask more and I believe you know that. Use that anger to fight your opponents, but at least try to find the silver lining. At least now you don't have to hide from your friends anymore." He explained.

"I never intentionally hid from them. I just didn't think my past was a big enough issue for me to tell about it." Harry tried to dodge.

"Bollocks, Harry I know you better than that. You did hide from them. It was no accident they didn't know what happened to you. Whenever the subject came up you always managed to change it. Give them a chance they may surprise you." Severus said harshly tying to get Harry to see maybe it was time the secrets were revealed.

"I just don't know. It was bad enough they found out I was abused thanks to Dudley. I don't know how to handle it not that Draco has an idea of what they did to me. You and I both know I will probably never outgrow a lot of the 'lessons' the Dursleys oh so graciously imparted to me. I chose to stay there partly because they taught me control over my wild magic, and partly because I was ashamed about anyone finding out." Harry finally admitted the truth after years of knowing Severus, and it hurt just as bad as he thought it would.

Severus couldn't believe what he was hearing. This was not the same Harry that had taken him into his arms and made love to him. Yet he knew it was, he knew Harry possessed the strength he had projected. You could not just act out that kind of stubborn resistance, you had to know it first hand to be able to function everyday keeping the kinds of secrets Harry held dear. Severus just didn't know how he could get Harry to see the strength he showed at Hogwarts could be applied to the Dursleys torture. Harry lived two completely separate lived and played his part in both masterfully.

"Harry you know they can't touch you anymore. Your Aunt and Uncle are dead and you have utter control over Dudley's fate. I have yet to see the wizard that could surpass your level of magic. You are not a freak, you are just yourself no more and no less than that. You have more strength in you than Voldemort or Dumbledore ever thought of having. You are the only person i have ever let my guard down completely with, and you at least better believe that." Severus explained to the still frantically pacing wizard in front of him.

"Surely there have been others before me?" Harry said willfully ignoring the rest.

"I have taken other lovers yes, but you are the only one I have given up my control to. You are the only one strong enough for me to even consider it. Now please don't ignore the rest of what I said." Severus reassured him.

"I can never be rid of them Severus. I will be old and gray and still wake up drenched in cold sweat from nightmares. The only reason I sleep at all now is because I abused Dreamless Sleep relentlessly since I discovered that it even existed. I have read up on the long term affects. In a few years maybe even a couple of decades if I am lucky the side effects will begin to wear off. I will start to dream again but the immunity will never go away. So when they do return I will never be able to seek its release again. I live with the memory every day of my life. I can't hug, or touch, laugh, or joke without being reminded of them, and what they did to me. I will only be able to fight them off for so long before I will begin to loose myself in the memories. You're right you know they were going to find out what happened eventually. All they had to do was wait for me to finally break." Harry ranted.

"But you can Harry, if any of us can it will be you. You told me at the beginning of the year that I was not alone, we both know you were not talking about a lack of sleep. That sentiment wokrs both ways. I did the same thing you did. I hid from the world too ashamed to fees up to it and too used to rejection to ask for help. I let the past build up over the years. I was all set and ready to hate you before I ever met you. Our only saving grace had been the fact you were sorted into Slytherin, had you not we would have been torn apart by my own blind hatred of your name and anything connected to it. You think this is easy for me to stand here and tell you this? Harry I know what it is like to be ripped part from the inside out. I remember the pain of going from one world to the next. Heel, I exchanged one master for another just so I had a chance of not being ostracized. That decision just made me even more of a black sheep on both sides.

I do not want to see you fall into the same trap I fell into myself. I would have to stand by and watch as all that very righteous anger and pain ate at you from the soul outward. You need to face it head on cry, vent, scream, and rage all you need to. The Slytherin mask is only that, a mask, please let it fall even for a few minutes. Turn whatever you are feeling now and direct it to what happened before. Face the past and overcome it, just like I was forced to do when a replica James Potter walked into my office battered and bruised. You will be rewarded the same as I was." Severus answered Harry's rant with one of his own and it contained more raw emotion within it than Severus usually displayed in years.

"Why does it have to be so hard for us? I look around the Great Hall at meals and see all the children who have happy homes and I just want to curl up and die inside, I know all the smiling faces I see are real, that people are hurting like we have but Damn it, sometimes it really does feel like we are alone. I don't want everything in life handed to me on a silver platter but we shouldn't have to fight a war just to keep living let alone be happy." Harry said resentfully.

"I don't know why we were chosen to bare this burden, but that doesn't stop it from being true. We can only try and support each other. Now are you willing to at least try and face them?" Severus asked gently, at least Harry had stopped pacing for now.

"I would have had to anyway. I called an Old Crowd meeting for tomorrow even if I was willing to skip classes, which I'm not, I wouldn't cancel that meeting." Harry explained.

"Alright, but you might want to explain things to Theodore, Draco, and Blaise first. They will understand you better than anyone else and it will give you a practice run in telling people on your terms, and not theirs." Severus suggested.

"I will probably end up doing that, and Severus before you go." Harry answered before pulling the unresisting potion's master into his arms and kissed him. He poured all the emotion and love into the kiss that had been building up as they spoke. The intensity and passion coming across as a wonderful shock of feelings that left them both breathless.

Harry ran his hands through Severus' dark hair before they separated. "Thank you." Harry whispered quietly despite the deserted corridor.

"You do not have to thank me for doing something that benefits the both of us. I can't loose you Harry especially if it's to yourself. You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. You should be thanking yourself." Severus explained easily, it was a simple concept to him.

"But still, I thank you." Harry pressed the issue.

Severus knew he wouldn't win here so he just replied. "You're welcome Harry. Now if I know my godson you might want to make an appearance in the common room soon or he will start tearing the castle apart looking for you. Blaise and Theodore are probably not far behind."

"I know, but I was in no shape to face them before, and now I have you to distract me." Harry said with an impish grin as he slowly recovered from the emotional overload.

"You should go find them and start explaining. I have some essays that need grading before tomorrow. If you would like to come down later this evening I should be done by then, but you may want to spend more time talking to them. If that is so I will see you at dinner." Severus explained giving Harry an opening to leave gracefully.

"Yeah I probably should, I don't know how long this will take but I am willing to bet it will take up all the time between now and dunner probably more to be honest, but we should see you then." Harry agreed easily, moving in for one last peck on the lips before striding down the corridor towards the stairs.

Severus remained in the tower for awhile after Harry left. He also needed some seclusion in order to think. He had not intended on ranting that much at Harry, or revealing that deep dark place in his soul. The thing that made him go through with it had been the thought of how hypocritical of him it would be to ask Harry to open up and let go of his pain if he couldn't do the same. It had hurt like Hell but he had manged. He felt that if he could achieve that with his emotionally crippled willpower Harry stood a chance at fully releasing the pent up anguish with his admittedly stronger mind. It would probably be harder than going through the actual abuse itself but he hadn't been lying to Harry when he said it would be worth it in the end. If he hadn't let go of his grudge against James Potter Harry might well have been another casualty to his vicious temper. They most definitely would not have the kind of relationship they had now.

Severus abandoned the tower window for the comforting familiarity of the dungeons. A pile of essays in front of him, with a quill and a bottle of red ink at the ready. Th semi-mindless task of grading the essays on a potion he could literally prepare blindfolded, gave him something to do with his hands while the words kept his mind from working too hard at wondering how Harry was fairing.

In the sixth year Slytherin boy's dorm, four old friends gathered to hear the full story of one of their pasts. While they were openly curious, they refrained from hanging on his every word. Instead they let the atmosphere of the room remain relaxed and encouraging to help Harry tell a tale that was the most painful thing he had ever done in his life.

"Thanks to Dudley you all know the Dursleys were abusive and I let something slip to Draco this morning that should tell you it has been going on for quite awhile. The first things I remember were endless lists of chores and biting hunger. Whenever I am at the Dursleys I am fed one meal a day if I am lucky enough to get my chores done and it has been like that for as long as I have been there. Severus has been dosing me with nutrient potions during the school years to make sure I kept growing.

That treatment turned worse when I was six. My uncle figured I was finally big enough to earn 'punishments' for not doing things correctly on top of the restricted meals. These punishments were used to indoctrinate into me certain 'lessons.' At first it was for things like 'don't ask questions, do not talk to anyone, if you try to run you will be hurt much worse than that,' and most of all, 'do not do anything unnatural,'

Can you imagine being six years old and having a rather large muggle, that happens to be a part of your immediate family, beating you with his own belt and telling you those things over and over again. The only time I was ever called Harry was at school otherwise it was 'boy' if we were in public, 'freak' anytime else.

Draco that is why I reacted the way I did this morning. Drawing attention in the muggle world, especially praise, always ended in a severe beating. Vernon was always careful to never break any bones in my arms or legs so I could still do the chores, but I have had more broken ribs than I could count. I am lucky none of them managed to pierce my lungs. I believe some Wild magic may have been at work there, than again fate owes me.

Petunia was mainly neglectful, she would slap my check occasionally, but other than that her worst crime by far was not stopping Vernon. I could deal with the short food rations but she sentenced me to a life of pain. She coddled Dudley and I was left to raise myself.

Dudley took after his father in all the wrong ways. He had his own little gang that their all time favorite game they invented called Harry Hunting. I was faster than them for the most part but if I hadn't been fed for too long, or was injured too badly they could catch me. They were the ones to leave bruises on my face. Vernon was always careful about that. If i got taken from the house by the authorities or ran away they would loose the protection from Voldemort, Dumbledore offered them in exchange for raising me.

Everything got worse when I started at Hogwarts, they seemed determined to make up for last time. The month after I got home I am beaten to within an inch of my life, they they would back off to their normal level of abuse, so I could heal the worst of it before coming back here.

That first year it was the hardest thing I have ever done to knock on Severus' door and ask for help. I made the decision then to keep it from being found out by anyone. That meant I would have to go back to the Dursleys every summer. I was too ashamed to ask for help the Dursleys had done their job well, I learned my lessons completely." Harry finished his story with his eyes closed and his head leaned back against the head board of his bed. He didn't have the strength to open his eyes and look at his friends reactions. He did not want to open them and see pity, but his Dursley taught mind worried they were going to be disgusted.


	10. Reactions

**Wicked Game**

**DaggersBloodPain**

**A/N **I am sorry for the heinously long delay but here is the new chapter.

**Chapter Ten**

**Reactions**

"Oh Harry why didn't you tell us before?" Draco asked softly, encouraging Harry to open his eyes and face his friends.

"I was too ashamed." The brunette wizard admitted.

"You honestly thought we would turn you away for something your uncle did?"

"I wouldn't defend myself against them, I'm weak." Harry mumbled.

"We know you better than that Harry. You could have defended yourself but you would have landed yourself in Azkaban doing it. Any other reasons were forced upon you when you were too young to fight back." Blaise explained.

"The fact you are still here says you're strong so please stop denying it." Theo said difinitively, voicing all of their thoughts.

"Thanks guys," Harry replied simply. It didn't take a genius to figure out he was feeling uncomfortable and a touch overwhelmed by their unanimous show of support.

"So you're not disgusted?" He asked again.

"How long will it take to pound it into your head that we are not going to abandon you? No we are not disgusted, and the only one we are angry at is your pathetic excuse for relatives. They were in the wrong and we know it." Draco said forcefully.

"Probably a long time," Harry replied, but a small smile was on his lips and it actually reached his eyes.

"I just happen to know a certain potion's professor that had finished his grading for the evening, one who just might want to know how you are doing." Draco supplied slyly.

"How do you know he is done grading?" Harry asked curiously.

"Because I know my godfather, he always finishes grading by this time. I know he was the one who persuaded you to tell us what happened at your relatives house, and is probably wondering how you handled it." Draco explained.

"So what?" Harry answered.

"So, go to him already. You know you want to." Blaise encouraged.

Harry needed no further prodding for him to vacate the dorm room and head to Severus' quarters. His friends quietly laughing at his retreating back, knowing Harry would probably return early the next morning with a few new markings to add to his collection. Draco wondered if he remembered the 'old crowd' meeting for the next night, demos were usually done shirtless to give greater rang of motion to the new technique or spell. The Old Crowd was in for an eyeful.

Harry arrived in Severus' quarters to find him pouring over an old book, a pile of freshly marked essays laying in a neat stack took up the top left hand corner of the desk, the pot of red ink safely capped and stored away. It looked like Draco did know what he was talking about concerning his godfather's personal grading habits, Harry made a mental note to thank him.

Harry wasted no time dragging the older wizard into his arms.

"I take it everything went well?" Severus asked, slightly distracted by the brunette wizard now softly nibbling the delicate flesh of his neck.

"You could say that." Harry answered with a near growl, emerald eyes darkening with lust, blood rushing straight to his lower regions.

"Told you that you had nothing to worry about." Severus said in what would have been a smooth voice, if it weren't for Harry's attentions turning it rough.

"Never took you for the 'I told you so' type." Harry replied as he started rescuing Severus from the confining cloth of his teaching robes.

"Only when necessary." Severus said with a smirk that was quickly overpowered.

Coherent thought was lost as they stumbled towards Severus' bed, the door snapping shut behind them. Neither wizard would be heard from for the remainder of the evening, and most of the night, into early morning.

When Harry finally stumbled back to his dorm room dawn was just on the edge of the horizon. Sliding into bed after changing he closed the curtains and fell asleep hoping to get at least a couple of hours of sleep before he had to go to classes tomorrow. He actually pitied Severus' first class of the day. The older man was either going to be in a really good mood, or in the much more likely scenario, he was going to be cranky due to the sleep deprivation. Harry was feeling lucky that he didn't have his lover's class until afternoon, enough time to allow Severus to down enough caffeine and Pepper-Up potions to be vaguely civil again, well civil for him anyway.

Draco was the first one awake in the morning, he could tell be the strewn about clothing that Harry was back, but hadn't been for very long or the house elves would have already retrieved the dirty garments. With a smirk on his lips he headed towards the waiting showers. Theo and Blaise were quick to follow his example, leaving Harry and the two snoring lumps that were Crabbe and Goyle.

After they finished their morning rituals, Crabbe and Goyle were starting to show signs of waking, while Harry was still dead to the world. A simultaneous evil smirk crossed their faces as Blaise pulled out his wand, a muttered spell later and Harry leapt up with a startled curse as ice cold water coursed over him. The boys got a good look at the new layer of bite marks and scratches as he retreated to the bathroom for a nice warn shower to wash away the remnants of his frozen awakening. Grumbling the whole time of unique and fitting punishments for his 'friends'.

That made Draco, Blaise, and Theo a bit nervous. Harry was the commonly assumed strongest wizard in their year. He had the power to back up his threats. There was also the distinct possibility they would become the guinea pigs at tonight's Old Crowd meeting. No one really wanted to be the one to help Harry demonstrate a technique that he hadn't shown them the counter to yet, and he was likely to be a little harsher on them simply because they managed to piss him off. Waking a person up be dumping cold water on them was sufficient to piss off a saint, which Harry clearly wasn't.

A/N I know it is short for such a long wait, and I have no excuse that you haven't heard before. I can tell you the next chapter will see the return of Dudley torture and you will finally see the Old Crowd when this chapter will come I have no idea.


	11. Chains

**Wicked Game**

**DaggersBloodPain**

**A/N** Look I know it's short and it has been forever but here it is.

**Chapter Eleven**

**Chains**

The room of requirement was filled with people. All houses and most years were represented. They were currently occupied with whispering to one another and death glaring at the muggle magically bound to a chair in the front of the room. The stories of Harry's treatment at his hands had reached all their ears and they knew he was about to receive some retribution for his crimes.

Harry was generally hard to piss off but those that had managed it before hand winced at the thought of what their leader could do to Dudley. Nothing they had done to warrant his ire even came close to what the youngest Dursley and his gang had done to Harry.

The others not wondering about the fate of the muggle in their midst was wondering were the emerald eyed wizard and his cohorts were at. They had yet to be spotted and Dudley had been bound to the chair before the first people arrived. Something had to be up for Harry to be late, or he was just trying to unnerve his cousin before extracting vengeance.

20 minutes after the last stragglers entered the room had passed before Blaise and Theodore made their appearance, Harry and Draco were still mysteriously missing. The two wizards made their way over to Dudley and unbound him from the chair.

Dudley feeling the bindings on him release leapt, as quickly as his massive bulk would allow, away from the chair and towards the door to the outside world. He barely thought for a second about why those two had just let him go but he found out quickly as his hand touched the knob and it was thrown backwards in his face.

A few confusing moments passed for the spectators but when it ended they saw Harry had Dudley pinned to the ground his whole arm glowing green and his wand jabbed into the jowls of Dudley's neck just like the first night in the common room. Draco was just standing slightly behind Harry ready to help if Dudley was granted a miracle and wiggled out of Harry's grasp.

"You didn't seriously think two of my best friends would just let you go did you?" Harry practically purred into Dudley's ears his eyes blazing with fire as thoughts of the torture to come set his blood boiling.

"You see I seem to remember a promise I made to you at the beginning of the year, something along the lines of following my rules now? I am a wizard of my word, I can't just let you get away with a few slashing hexes and a little acid. Oh no, you deserve much more than that. Don't worry cousin you will not die tonight, but you will wish you had." Harry taunted again, and the others realized by the steadily reading face of the muggle that Dudley had been silenced as well as bound.

Harry turned to face the waiting crowd. "Tonight will not be a normal meeting. I am going to be using spells I never want to see any of you using. If you have a problem with blood or other such side effects of torture leave now, I will not count you any less for it. This is your one and only warning."

"Why not? Why can't we use the spells, you're using them!" A Gryffindor fourth year called from the back of the crowd.

"Because if we used them it would kill us," Draco answered in Harry's place. "You should know better than to think Harry gives orders just because he can."

"Is it true? Can it really kill us?" A curly haired girl from Hufflepuff who showed quite a bit of promise asked quietly from the side.

"No." Harry beat Draco to answer this one. "Some of the magic I use could kill you, but I am not using that tonight. This magic could kill your soul which is a fate worse than death."

She gulped a bit and nodded hesitantly to show she understood. No one else bothered to ask a question but Harry noticed at least five people slide out of the door while they had the chance. Learning the spells and seeing them in use was two different things.

Harry hadn't realized just how much his answer to the Hufflepuff had unnerved Draco. Was Harry really going to play with Soul magic with everyone around them? One distraction and Harry would be as soulless as a Dementor victim. He realized Harry was royally pissed at Dudley and wasn't thinking as clearly as he could be, but this was going too far, he really hoped Harry knew what he was doing.

While Draco had been thinking Harry had been getting ready to begin working on Dudley. This was one time he wanted his magic firmly in hand before he even thought about casting any magic. He had thought up a way to get Dudley permanently out of the way. Hopefully without Dumbledore knowing about it, if they played their cards right Dudley could be the key to bringing down the manipulative old man. One Dumbledore was out of the picture he would just finish Dudley off to leave his path to Voldemort clear.

The reason he had decided to do this in front of the 'Old Crowd' was there was a portion of the magic he was about to perform that he would need to borrow magic from an outside source or the spell would not work right. The more people he drew magic from the better the spell would take.

The one ingredient the spell needed besides the words was something Harry was more than willing to produce, in copious amounts… Dudley's blood.

With a deep breath and a feral grin Harry growled out spell after spell. He started out with low level pain curses and worked his way up to the point Dudley was nothing more than a blubbering mess on the ground. His body was losing blood in what would have been worrying amount had anyone in the room felt any reason to worry over the fate of Dudley.

Harry would later admit under pressure from his friends that the amount he pulled from Dudley was excessive but his excess was not chastised in the slightest.

When Harry was satisfied with the blood pulled from Dudley and his body was pulsing with magic he started the spell work that would forever change the dynamic between wizard and muggle.

Touching his wand tip to the liquid life spilling from Dudley he whispered the word, "Dementorum."

At the last syllable Dudley's body spasmed in pain as he thrashed and soundlessly screamed. Just as suddenly as it had started the pain died and his body went limp the watery blue eyes blank as death.

Harry pulled his wand away from the blood and with it came a glowing ball of energy balanced on the tip and secured in place by his magic.

Harry had literally stolen the soul right out of Dudley's blood and now held his cousin's fate in his hands alone.


	12. Soul's Requiem

**Wicked Game**

**DaggersBloodPain**

**A/N **well here is your next chapter and do my eyes deceive me but I do believe it hasn't been a month in fact it hasn't even been a week.

**Chapter Twelve **

**Soul's Requiem**

Harry relished the feeling of power and control that flowed through him as he literally held the fate of his cousin in his hands. It was so addictive and enlivening he almost didn't have the control to finish the job, almost.

Concentrating on the soul he held within his magic's grasp he slowly started breaking up the ball of light into several pieces, making sure each piece came off cleanly and was still a part of the whole. This was where he started sweating and had to reach out and tap into the waiting energy force of the old crowd.

He was not just breaking random pieces off, he was separating the different parts of Dudley's soul. The parts that controlled his actions and beliefs were being carefully peeled away. The broken pieces didn't move or dissolve they just hung in the air as Harry finished the grueling task o filtering though the tainted soul.

With one last tug at the surrounding magic Harry let go of the pieces of soul, but they did not return to their previous home, instead the pieces scattered every person who had lent their magic now housed a piece of Dudley's soul. Those that were still concentrating on Harry saw that the main part of the soul was still in the air. This was the true core of Dudley everything that made the boy a part of the human race was contained in the brightly burning ball of light.

Harry did something than that surprised everyone, he put his hand to his own chest and whispered something, when he pulled his hand away an identical ball of light was perched on his fingertip. He had willingly removed a small piece of his soul. Gently guiding the fragment over to the one that had originated from Dudley he brought the two of them together, with yet another whispered word and jolt of power.

Both spheres fought the combination, even on the most basic level Harry and Dudley still fought, but Harry's won out over them and with a bright flash of light they became one. Thoroughly mixing together until you could not tell which parts came from Harry and which from Dudley.

The last stage finally here, Harry forced the sphere to once more split, fifty-fifty, but each half contained some of both components. With a shuddered breath Harry released the soul halves and braced himself as one flew at him, filling in the gap the removal had caused, with the other half hitting Dudley square in the chest.

The fat lump of muggle on the floor sat up slowly looking dazed and lost, what caught the onlookers attention was the fact Dudley's eyes had changed, they had emerald veins running through his usual light blue.

Draco managed to ask the question on everyone's mind, "What in the nine circles of Hell did you just do?"

"I have stripped Dudley's soul bare of everything that came from an outside source. Every habit, every belief that was coached into him, but he didn't truly chose is gone now, I couldn't just destroy the parts because Soul magic won't let you destroy them only move them, so I broke them up and scattered bits of it to all of you. I know you, and everyone here has a strong enough will to overcome whatever amount of damage those small pieces might cause. Though if you do start feeling funny or finding yourself doing things that are not your custom come to me and I will lessen the amount of soul you have to deal with." Harry explained easily, but there was tiredness creeping into his normally strong voice.

"Why did you give him a part of your soul?" Blaise asked cautiously.

"If I hadn't he would have been no better then an infant, What I did also strips away anything he bothered to learn in school including speech, reading, and writing. I gave him back some of my knowledge to replace what I took away. I had to take on some of his soul to fill the gap giving up my knowledge left. I also gave him some of my personal views so when he finally wakes from his daze we may just be able to understand each other." Harry admitted.

"You are actually giving him a second chance after everything he did?" Hermione questioned seriously.

"Not quite Hermione, I am giving him a last chance, what you saw before was everything the Dursleys ingrained into him. If after this he is still a bastard then we know it is entirely his own doing and he will be punished accordingly." He informed her with a bit of a nasty gleam in his eyes, he was just waiting for Dudley to mess up again and she knew it.

Hermione nearly hit herself over the head after Harry's calm answer. She sometimes forgot just how cold Harry could be, the only thing that kept him from crossing the line to evil in her mind was at least he had put forth the effort to give Dudley a chance. She knew perfectly well that if Dudley messed up again he would die, simple as that and though she cringed away from the idea she accepted that was how it was going to be.

"How long do you think it will take Dudley to come out of it?" Theo asked as he shook Dudley's shoulder but received no response.

"At most a few days he has to completely restructure his mind to accept the new soul. It is not an easy process and any of you that received a piece of soul from Dudley will probably wake up tomorrow with a headache," Harry warned.

"Do you think that was enough for tonight's meeting? I know we planned on practicing for the tournament but this became more urgent." Harry asked the waiting crowd.

"Well I know I would still like a chance to practice," One of the Ravenclaw boys spoke up, "But you don't have to join us if you would rather just watch and correct. We all know you are probably going to twin the thing anyway no matter how little you practice." He teased.

"I don't mind that, anyone who still wishes to practice can do so, I will be right back I am going to get Dudley to bed." Harry approved before pulling his wand once more on his cousin and levitating him out of the room, an invisibility spell helping to get him to the dungeons quickly. He put him in the boy's dorm room with several spells on him to tell Harry if he was awake or in distress. With Dudley situated he returned to the room to help him group improve their fighting.

He didn't want to admit to the group he was having a bit of trouble adjusting to the foreign soul in his body. He had taken a much large piece than the others had, and it was straining on him to fit it back into place. It took him most of the night to wrestle the soul fragment into its proper place. He would confront what he had pulled from Dudley when he had a bit more strength.

All he wanted after the crowd had split up was a long rest in a comfortable bed. Just because the bed he ended up in wasn't his didn't make much difference, although he didn't get to sleep until later than he really wanted to, he would give up much needed sleep for a few hours of Severus' company any time.


	13. Tournament

Wicked Game

DaggersBloodPain

A/N This story is nearing its end, there is only about three or four chapters left including this one.

Chapter Thirteen

Tournament

Harry was alone in the dorms. Carefully dressing in Slytherin green dueling robes, preparing both his body and mind for the Tournament that was starting on this day. He knew his friends were right he would probably win. That was not arrogance talking that was confidence.

The fact that people were going to see him win was bothering him. He had major issues with public displays of power. He didn't mind the persistent rumors about his abilities but to confirm them in front of a crowd, well lets just say it would not be easy.

Making his way to the great hall he slipped inside without much notice, sliding in beside Draco to watch the lower years fight. They showed potential, but couldn't really do much, until the thirds years took the floor.

They had just enough schooling to know the spells and were willing to prove they knew it. These duels were the ones Harry really paid attention to. This was the true start of the competition. He watched each duel carefully, fixing the faces of the winners in his mind. They would be the ones to take over the school once he left.

The fourth years were disappointing, with the promise the third years held he was hoping to see some stand out student's but alas these students were feeling the affects of bad teachers and war like conditions in the classrooms. He knew the year these students took their OWLs there was going to be some major disappointments.

Fifth years came to the front and Harry began to see a few faces from his old crowd. Fifth years were the ones who were taught by him the longest. They were far better trained then the ones who were not part of his club. Some of them would make it into the next rounds he was positive. The winners from the last few rounds had been beaten immediately after the next years came up. Even the ones who had won their year were not strong enough to beat the next year up. That was changing now.

He saw Ginny Weasley win the year, and he gave her a nod in approval, if it couldn't be a Slytherin that won at least it was a student he had taught. She was thrown against her next opponent, who just happened to be her older brother Ron. Harry actually smiled as he watched her plow over him, the only time a younger student had beaten an elder one.

He was pulled out of watching Ginny when he realized the Slytherin Sixth years were already pairing off for their first duels. They had to duel amongst themselves and the winner of the house went against the winner from the other houses. The one who won the year moved on to join the duels of the year above in their own house, hence the reason Ginny was faced with Ron immediately, and the person who won from the Seventh year duels would face each of the teachers. The Professors were already ranked, Dumbledore had not wanted the students to watch that tournament, and if the student got through they would face Dumbledore. Harry knew if it he really did win, he wasn't sure he could keep himself from killing Dumbledore.

Crabbe, Goyle, Blaise, Theo, Draco, Pansy, and Millie were already paired off, with Draco off to the side waiting for him. The friends quickly found dueling each other was harder than they thought, only one of them had the determination to hit their friends with something strong enough to win the duels.

Harry had watched and trained all of his friends, if anyone could predict what the Slytherins would do in a duel it was him. He knew how to disarm his friends without causing them serious harm. He knew which people could take which curses and he used that knowledge to win. Ignoring everything around him he just focused and fought. For once he actually wanted to win, Dumbledore had given him the perfect opportunity and he was not going to squander it.

When the last of the Slytherins, Draco, fell to his wand he turned back to the drowd to see every face in the hall staring at him. He just ignored them as usual and went over to the other three Sixth year winners, Hermione Granger, Susan Bones, and Terry Boot.

All of the winners were part of his crowd. He felt pride at that, his time and effort was not wasted, and he knew they had worked hard to win. Dumbledore split them off Harry would duel Terry and Hermione would duel Susan. They must have decided to try and keep the Gryffindors from fighting the Slytherins knowing a duel between those houses' upper level students might just bring down the Great Hall.

Harry actually had to concentrate on the fight between him and Terry. Terry was not a friend therefore he would not be hindered by a conscience. They moved swiftly and smoothly as they slowly increased the strength of the spells they cast. Harry got a slow smile on his face as his magic danced in his veins reveling in the feel of the release. Normally under such tight restraints, it burst forth with glorious abandon. Terry did not last long after Harry became perfectly in tune with his magic.

Harry turned to see who had won the other sixth year duel and was faced with Susan Bones. He couldn't say he was surprised, Hermione was brilliant but she sometimes shied away from the stronger spells and that had cost her the win this time.

He enjoyed dueling Susan, she moved fluidly and had quite a bit of power in her. The fiery Hufflepuff lasted the longest against him so far. she was smiling just as happily as he was, enjoying every minute of the duel. The Hufflepuffs could be heard cheering for their star with unabashed glee. Harry had to admit to himself if the final prize wasn't so tempting he might have thrown the duel and let Susan have the glory, he didn't need more and she really was an amazing duelist.

He made sure when he disarmed her he did not cause any harm. No matter how heartless he became he always remembered to reward skill, even if the reward was a painless defeat instead of a humiliating end. He even tipped his head to her and helped her up after their duel was over. She accepted his hand with a grin and he knew she understood. She had power he knew it and acknowledged it.

Harry immediately moved on to dueling the seventh year Slytherins, who he just knew were holding back. That irritated him to no end, if he was really supposed to win this tournament than he would win it on his own merits not with their assistance. In payment for their disrespect he defeated them in the most degrading ways he could think of. He knew if you wanted to hurt a Slytherin you went for their pride not their bodies, and yes he was including himself in that stereotype.

By the time he had demolished the seventh year snakes his eye were glowing with anger instead of pride. The Ravenclaw paired against him this round audibly gulped at the sight. Harry had the poor student out in five minutes. Fear would always win out over dry knowledge no matter how many books on dueling the Ravenclaw had read before entering the fight he was frozen at the sight if a pissed off Harry Potter.

The Gryffindor seventh year who came up next kept his head where the Ravenclaw had lost it. It just goes to show Gryffindors really were the brave ones… or just very foolish. He fought with all the grace of a bull, but he had power to back up the lack of style. Harry danced out of his reach and hit him with minor spells until the enraged Gryffindor charged at him loosing focus, Harry dropped him with a stunner.

Sweat had broken out on Harry's brow by now, and he rubbed at his temples to quell the rising headache, which was only fueled by the cheers, and boos, of the crowd watching. He never thought he would be glad to hear Dumbledore's voice but he was this time, but only because he had called for a ten minute break before Harry face the teachers. Harry nearly collapsed against Draco, he wasn't tired but the pain was killing him.

"What is wrong?" He asked Harry urgently, helping the hurting teen to rest easy.

"Dudley's soul, it's fighting mine again." Harry answered through the pain.

"Just what did you take from him? Do I even want to know what you gave him?" Draco just knew there was something about that night Harry had not told him. He began gently massaging the Headache away with cool fingers on Harry's temple.

Harry allowed himself to bask in Draco's touch for a moment before answering, "I took his confidence, and I gave him… Well I am not sure you want to know what I gave him." Harry confessed.

Draco paled as he thought of what Harry might have done. "Just tell me Harry."

Harry mumbled something under his breath, "Sorry Harry you are going to have to repeat that, oh and Dumbledore will soon be starting so you better answer." Draco was not prepared for the cold stare as he met his friend's eyes.

"I gave him most of my compassion," Harry admitted before heading back to the main dueling area for his duels with the teachers.

Draco didn't watch a minute of the first five teacher/student duels. He was too busy getting over his shock. Harry barely had any compassion left to give! How much and why did he do it? What possessed that brilliant mind of his? With Dudley's pride and less of his balancing compassion Harry was now more dangerous than ever. 

Draco now recognized the exchange with Susan for what it was, that was no gesture of goodwill towards her, it was a calculated move to keep the powerful witch on his side. Draco knew without a doubt Harry was going to win this tournament. The soul exchange had given him exactly what he needed to go up against Dumbledore. Harry was about to take down the Lord of the Light right under every one's nose and the funny part was no one knew it.

When Draco finally managed to look up it was to yet another shock. Harry had just blasted his lover across the room, of course only a few choice people knew that Severus was his lover but still. Draco was about ready to stun Harry and get him out of there before Severus woke up, only to see Severus was awake. He hadn't passed out and was now looking at Harry with an understanding look on his face, so his godfather knew Harry was slowly losing himself to the darkness. Draco knew forgiveness would be fought for and won between the two they were too closely entwined to be split apart so easily.

He saw Harry shake himself in an effort to bring back reality. He was struggling to keep the darkness at bay. He simply could not give in to his base instincts with Dumbledore on the prowl it just wouldn't work. Fighting the darkness and the professors of Hogwarts was no easy task and Harry was tired, not to the point it was noticeable, but enough for him to have a disadvantage when he fought Dumbledore who had yet to even duel with the professors.

When Harry stepped in front of Dumbledore the hall that had been filled with sound the moment before became deathly silent. No one spoke and no one moved. McGonagall gave the signal to start and what followed was two hours of the best dueling anyone had ever seen. No one was quite prepared for just how much power Harry possessed, and just as many were shocked at how much Dumbledore was willing to use against a student. The students knew deep in their hearts they were watching something that would change the way they saw the world… forevermore.

Harry refused to fall no matter how much he hurt, how tired he was, or how much blood he was losing. No one could stop him from achieving his goal. Nothing stood between him and success but one stubborn old man. Even Harry was surprised at just how many borderline dark spells the Headmaster used on him, which Harry reciprocated. As long as Dumbledore used the spell first there was no way Harry could get in trouble for using it. Even the current ministry was not that stupid.

When the preverbal dust cleared off the battlefield there was Harry standing tall gasping for breath as he held his wand pointed straight at Dumbledore's unprotected throat.

"You have lost Dumbledore, and today is the day things change, you will either follow my lead or you will die." Harry whispered silkily into the Headmaster's ear.

"What do you want from me Harry?" The old man asked projecting a vision of aged confusion.

"I am not one of your silly pets Dumbledore, you do not fool me, I want a meeting set up in your office with the minister and tonight. Now I am going to let you up, and you will follow my advice, because one wrong move and you are dead. I have my hand around your heart. You will not like it if my patience is tried." Harry warned.

Dumbledore slowly rose to his feet and held his hand out for his wand that was held within Harry's grasp. "I don't think so Dumbledore, I think we best go see to that meeting first. If all goes well you will get this back. I may even allow you to continue with your sickening love of lemon drops if you do exactly as I say." Harry commanded.

Dumbledore and Harry walked out of the hall looking for all the world like two wizards about to have a simple chat over tea, as Harry had an arm draped almost carelessly around Dumbledore as if helping the aged man walk. It was too bad no student noticed the wand pressed into Dumbledore's side held up the sleeve of the arm around his waist.


	14. The Deal

Wicked Game

DaggersBloodPain

Chapter Fourteen

The Deal

Dumbledore managed to invite the minister over for tea, looking and acting as if nothing was wrong. It just happened the only thing wrong with the situation was a wand pressed to his back held by an enraged emerald eyed Slytherin, who just proved in a room full of witnesses that he was stronger than Dumbledore.

"Albus to what do I owe this unexpected invitation?" The minister inquired as he pulled himself from the fireplace, too busy brushing off his robes, and straightening his bowler hat to notice the third person in the room.

Unfortunately, for the minister his ignorance did not last long. "Good evening Minister, I was wondering if the three of us could sit down and have a chat?" Harry asked in mock gentleness

"Now see here young man I am much too busy to listen to the simple minded requests of a lad, now really Albus I had expected better. I have important work that I must be getting back to." The minister objected pompously, and Harry felt his lip curl up in distaste.

"You mistake my words minister. There is no option and you two will be doing all the listening and I will be doing the chatting. Sit down minister!" Harry ordered using a shove of magic to push the minister into a chair in front of Dumbledore's desk. Harry still had his wand pressed against Dumbledore, knowing the crafty old man would still have a few tricks up his sleeves if he let him loose at all.

"You will never get away with this! You will be in Azkaban before you can blink!" The minister threatened.

"I think not, you see I have already beaten dear old Dumbles in a duel, if I can do that than even if I kill both of you there is only one other wizard alive who would be strong enough to bring me in. I do not believe Lord Voldemort would deliver me to Azkaban just for your worthless hides. Yet I do not remember ever mentioning killing you have I? You have a choice you will either listen to me or die. I can kill you whenever and wherever you are if I want to, I will always know where you are and what you have done. I will even be kind and destroy your little Voldemort problem for you before I ask my price of you." Harry explained coolly, his magic cradling him gently, his magical strength far outweighed his physical. He could survive for weeks on just his magic alone. It was now replenishing the energy the duels took out of him.

"What is your price?" Dumbledore asked wearily.

"I want my freedom," Harry answered simply startling both of them.

"You have your freedom!" The minister squeaked.

"No I do not, if you haven't guessed yet I am not a Light wizard, and I never have been." Harry delighted in the shocked looks on their faces, I mean seriously how could they not have even suspected. "I want the freedom to practice my magic, all of it."

"You want us to allow murderers and tortures to run amok! I simply will not allow those evil cretins to walk in my country." The minister was torn between indignant anger and outright fear.

"Minister, I am a Dark Wizard, yet I have never taken a life. The only laws I have broken involve the type of magic I use not who or what I use it on. I am not saying murderers should go unpunished, although mandatory trials would be nice, I am asking that all magic be acknowledged and allowed. Not all Dark magic involves the taking of a life." Harry defended his life to these pathetic excuses for wizards. They did not need to know his history. He had in fact killed but that was not for them to know, nor anyone else. It had been private and personal and taught him to respect life above all things.

"You just threaten ours!" The minister shouted at the first chance he got.

"I gave you a choice didn't I? It is not me who will kill you but your own choice. Do you think Voldemort would give you the choice? I think not. I am asking you to legalize Dark magic, I have no problems with the ministry regulating it's use as long as each regulation is checked over and approved by at least three wizards, one Light, one Dark, and one Neutral. If the regulation is found to be unjust or not harsh enough by one of the wizards voting it will not be passed the decision must be unanimous." Harry responded easily and it became readily apparent Harry had been planning this for quite some time, this tournament had merely given the opportunity.

"Alright Potter we do this your way, but if you die in the attempt this deal becomes void." The minister seemed overjoyed that this discussion was coming to an end.

Harry let both Dumbledore and the minister take three steps away from him before grabbing their attention. "Oh I almost forgot," He exclaimed dramatically. When he had both of their attention he held up his opened hand, and in one swift motion balled it into a fist, and both wizards hit the floor screaming in pain. Their hearts felt like they were literally crushed.

Harry relaxed his hand and the screaming stopped to be replaced by large gulping breaths. They had the message loud and clear. Harry could and would kill them if they did not obey.


	15. The Price

Wicked Game

DaggersBloodPain

Chapter Fifteen 

The Price

"You are really going after him?" Draco asked as he watched Harry change.

Harry was removing the green dueling robes he had worn for the tournament. They shimmered in the light and whispered when he moved. They would be a liability where he was going, he could not afford to wear them.

"Yes I am," Harry answered his friend simply, he was now dressed in complete black from head to toe. Not one sound was made or any sign of life beneath the shadows, it was kind of creepy to tell the truth.

"Harry this will not be like the Duel with Dumbledore, Voldemort will use the Dark arts and if you lose you will die." Draco warned.

"I know that Draco, I also know that I can beat him. I have more to gain from living than he does. He will lose and I will come back. I am not lost to the Darkness yet, I will fight it for the rest of my life. I will not fall to the Abyss." Harry reassured his friend as he secured his wand holster onto his arm. Double and triple checking the charms and straps holding it in place.

"You know he will not be alone," Draco tried a different tactic, hoping against hope.

"Oh yes he will be, that man is always alone unless it is directly before or after a raid." Harry explained confidently. He knew what he was doing.

"How do you know that?" Draco argued worried his friend would leave and never come back.

"I share his mind, Draco, I know he is alive, and I know how to kill him." Harry assured, knowing this would be hard on Draco to just let him go.

"There is no way I can stop you from doing this is there?" Draco was resigned to his fate, he knew that stubborn look in Harry's eyes.

"I will come back Draco," Harry said one final time before exiting the dorms, leaving his best friend to brood.

When he finally reached the end of Hogwart's wards he concentrated on his scar. The residue of Voldemort's magic still slung to it like a magnet, not amount of ritual or cleansing could remove it. Concentrating on the magic in that small area he apparated to Lord Voldemort, finally ready to face his destiny.

He landed like a cat on the hard stone floor. Voldemort was in front of him, an expression on the snake like face of something half between amusement and confusion. It did nothing to help his appearance. When Harry through the first spell at him Voldemort was on his feet with wand in hand in two seconds flat.

Harry dueled with every bit of power and knowledge he possessed. He knew Voldemort almost better than he knew himself. He knew the snake man's every whim every wish. Anything that ever irritated him or amused him. The man everyone feared was an open book to Harry.

Voldemort would never know what hit him. Harry had never before shown this much strength and skill. The boy had forever changed. His soul was blackened and charred just like the elder wizard before him. They dueled to the death in that stone cold chamber, but for both members they knew this was not a solo swan song.

No matter who was left in the dust death in some form or incarnation was going to claim them both. Sanity, body, soul, and heart everything that made up a person was on the line. Even as the final spell fell from lips and slammed into serpentine flesh, death claimed both.

Harry looked down at his fallen opponent. Red eyes still open in surprise. He had failed in his promise to Draco. The Abyss had taken him, he had well and truly fallen.

Picking up the corpse of Voldemort Harry bore his morbid burden back to Hogwarts. Landing outside the wards Harry carried the snake-man up the several flights of stairs it took to get to the Headmaster's office. The door sprang open at the command of his magic and he finally laid the corpse on the floor at the foot of Dumbledore's desk.

"I have kept my half of the bargain. It is time you kept yours. I want new laws in place by tomorrow old man. Or more than one corpse will dirty the floor of this castle." Harry warned without the burning passion he had just hours ago.

Harry left the room and headed for the safety of the dungeons, his limbs moving on autopilot as his mind refused to comprehend what he had done.

Entering the dorm he saw Dudley laying on his bed. Eyes still closed but moving rapidly in his dream state. The boy had still not woken after Harry had exchanged their souls. With a hand on Dudley's forehead and the other over his heart he let Dudley sink further and further into darkness. Dudley was not going to win this battle. His soul was too broken even before Harry had changed it. With a deep calming breath and a silent prayer he let Dudley out of his silent misery. Maybe if the boy was lucky he would reunite with his lost family.

He heard a sound in the dorm, turning he saw Draco in the door-way.

Draco just stared at the one thing he never thought he would see. Raw pain was written plainly across Harry's face, and with it tears streamed down in crystalline falls.

No words were said between them as Draco hugged his best friend to him, not even aware they had moved to Draco's bed. There Harry cried out his pain at what he had done.

He had killed his enemy. He had destroyed his only equal. He had demolished his mirror. He had vanquished the one thing he feared the most… Lord Voldemort was everything Harry feared he would one day become. He was one step closer now that he had use those dreaded words. Harry had killed before but never with the killing curse. The last piece of Harry's soul that was still innocent had just been shattered that night. The old Harry was dead, and soon the new would emerge from the ashes.


	16. The Reward

Wicked Game

DaggersBloodPain

The Reward

(Epilogue)

One year. One whole miraculous and painful year had passed since he had taken the life of Voldemort. Tomorrow would be he anniversary of the first law legalizing Dark Magic. Harry himself had written it but there was something noticeably absent.

Harry himself had vetoed the Unforgivables. Even amongst the Dark side those were the curses that separated the Dark arts from the Black. Harry had now cast all three.

It had taken him months to get back to his normal attitude. Even then, his soul felt empty. He had done the unthinkable and it had torn him up inside.

Severus had saved him once again. If it hadn't been for his older lover Harry would have sunk into a depression so deep he would not have woken up from it. With the Potion's Masters gentle loving touch it brought back the old Harry bit by bit.

He was doing a lot better now. He had even managed to make it through his NEWTs and graduate Hogwarts with top marks. His friends assured him they knew it would happened but Harry was the most surprised out of any of them when his marks came back as good as they were.

Harry had a whole new world of opportunity knocking on his door. He didn't want it. he just wanted to stay curled up with Severus in their bedroom and tell the annoying knocking to go away.

When he shared this hope with his lover he was surprised to find them in their own little house in the middle of nowhere only a month after telling him. They spent two blissful years in domestic paradise. Just loving each other and healing from the war. Working together to make their tomorrow better than their yesterday.

When they did decide to rejoin the wizarding world Harry found quiet work at a desk far back in the honeycomb that most people called the Ministry of Magic while Severus spent his days making potions requested of him from both Pomfrey and St. Mungos. Neither of them could be happier with their simple quiet life. They allowed the adventures from their school days to fade into the background.

Harry did keep in touch with his old friends. They all scattered into the world ready to do big things in important places. Harry just watched them happily from the sidelines occasionally lending a helping hand but mainly staying out of it.

Harry was forced to rein in both Dumbledore and the minister on several occasions, and he proved he could do it from any distance at any time. Those two soon learned he was not joking around about his power.

The most amazing thing about Harry and Severus' life was, after Harry graduated they never stepped foot in Hogwarts again and neither wizard could ever be happier.


End file.
